Dr. Max Asch
1895
Medium
etching
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1943.3.9025
Art Historical Context
Edvard Munch's *Dr. Max Asch* (1895) is a striking etching that captures the Norwegian artist's mastery of printmaking during a pivotal moment in his career. Created as an intimate portrait of the German physician Dr. Max Asch, this work exemplifies Munch's transition from Symbolism toward Expressionism, a movement he helped pioneer. At the time, Munch was living in Berlin, immersed in Europe's vibrant avant-garde scene, where he explored psychological depth and emotional intensity in his subjects. As an etching—a labor-intensive intaglio technique involving acid biting into a metal plate to ...
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...