Two Women on the Shore
1898
Medium
Woodcut printed from one block (sawn into three sections) in dark blue, green, black and red-brown ink with additions in green crayon on cream Japanese paper
Dimensions
Image: 45.6 × 51.4 cm (18 × 20 1/4 in.); Sheet: 53.6 × 59.8 cm (21 1/8 × 23 9/16 in.)
Classification
woodcut
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
17257
Art Historical Context
Edvard Munch's *Two Women on the Shore (1898) captures the haunting emotional intensity that defined the Norwegian artist's pioneering Expressionist style. Created during Munch's "Frieze of Life", this woodcut evokes themes of isolation and the sublime power of nature, with two silhouetted figures standing against a turbulent sea and sky. Munch, best known for *The Scream*, drew from personal experiences of love, loss, and existential anxiety, transforming them into universal symbols that influenced modern art. The print's technical innovation shines through its medium: a single woodblock saw...
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...