Edvard Munch
1908
Oil paint on canvas
From 1907, Edvard Munch rented a house in Warnemünde, on the northern coast of Germany. Located on the Baltic Sea, it was, for Munch, the German version of Åsgårdstrand, the Norwegian seaside town where he spent many summers. Youth is one of the ambitious works depicting male bathers Munch produced in Warnemünde and was likely painted on the beach itself. Its
lively brushwork and bright palette mark a new direction in Munch’s art. The young man epitomizes Munch’s recent interest in the German Vitalist movement, which promoted physical wellbeing and a close relationship with nature.