Madonna
Lithograph
1895 (made)
1895 (made)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
This image expresses Munch's ambivalent attitude to women, whom he saw as seductive and powerful, but dangerous and deathly. Here the woman embodies the virgin/whore duality; she is simultaneously a haloed Madonna, but flaunts a sensual provocative nakedness emphasised by her luxuriant hair. A foetus crouching in the bottom left corner symbolises the woman as fertile mother, and the image is framed with representations of sperm, but this is a vision of a predatory feminity rather than a nurturing motherhood. For Munch sex and death were fused in the bodies of women.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Title | Madonna (generic title) |
Materials and techniques | Lithograph |
Brief description | Lithograph Madonna by Edvard Munch, Norwegian, 1895 |
Physical description | Lithograph |
Dimensions |
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Styles | |
Subjects depicted | |
Summary | This image expresses Munch's ambivalent attitude to women, whom he saw as seductive and powerful, but dangerous and deathly. Here the woman embodies the virgin/whore duality; she is simultaneously a haloed Madonna, but flaunts a sensual provocative nakedness emphasised by her luxuriant hair. A foetus crouching in the bottom left corner symbolises the woman as fertile mother, and the image is framed with representations of sperm, but this is a vision of a predatory feminity rather than a nurturing motherhood. For Munch sex and death were fused in the bodies of women. |
Bibliographic reference | Greenhalgh, Paul (Ed.), Art Nouveau: 1890-1914 . London: V&A Publications, 2000
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Collection | |
Accession number | E.582-1980 |
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Record created | December 29, 2003 |
Record URL |
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