Birgitte III (The Gothic Girl)
1930
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
hand-colored woodcut
Dimensions
overall: 59.69 × 32.07 cm (23 1/2 × 12 5/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Epstein Family Collection
Accession Number
2024.148.21
Art Historical Context
Edvard Munch’s *Birgitte III (The Gothic Girl)*, created in 1930 as a hand-colored woodcut, reveals the Norwegian artist’s enduring fascination with portraiture and emotional intensity late in his career. By this time Munch had already established his reputation with works exploring themes of anxiety, love, and isolation; here he returns to the human figure with simplified, angular forms that evoke both medieval Gothic statuary and modern psychological depth. The title’s reference to a “Gothic Girl” suggests a stylized, introspective subject whose elongated features and somber mood align with ...
About the Artist
Edvard Munch · 1863–1944
Edvard Munch (1863-1944) was a Norwegian painter and printmaker whose intensely psychological works made him a pioneer of Expressionism and one of the most influential artists of the modern era. His 1893 masterpiece 'The Scream' has become an iconic symbol of existential anxiety. Munch's art was profoundly shaped by personal tragedy—his mother died when he was five, his beloved sister Sophie at fo...