Edvard Munch
1889
Oil paint on canvas
Summer Night depicts Edvard Munch’s sister Inger sitting on the shoreline of the
Norwegian fishing town of Åsgårdstrand, where the artist often spent summers. Munch presents Inger absorbed in thought. The setting reinforces this contemplative mood through the subtle rendering of the evening light and the smoothed, simplified forms of the boulders. The painting is often considered to be the moment Munch found his unique artistic voice. The fusion between the figure’s emotional state and her surroundings, as well as the technique of distilling essential shapes and colours, became characteristic features of Munch’s work, as with Melancholy (displayed nearby).