Artwork
Life: Right Part
Life: Right Part is a tempera painting by the Post-Impressionist artist Edvard Munch. It dates from 1910 and is held in the collection of the Munch Museum.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1910, *Life: Right Part* is a tempera painting by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. The work belongs to the period when Munch was developing his post‑impressionist visual language, and it is presently housed in the Munch Museum in Oslo.
Subject & Meaning
The composition shows three figures positioned in a garden‑like setting. Two women in white dresses occupy the left and centre, one seated and one standing, while a third figure in dark clothing stands to the right. The muted landscape, rendered in greens with hints of red and white structures, suggests a quiet domestic scene that invites contemplation of interpersonal distance.
Technique & Style
Munch employed tempera, a fast‑drying medium that mixes pigment with a water‑soluble binder. This choice yields a crisp, matte surface and allows for rapid, gestural brushwork, contributing to the painting’s sense of immediacy and the subtle modulation of colour across the figures and background.
History & Provenance
The painting entered the collection of the Munch Museum, the principal repository for the artist’s oeuvre. It has remained in the museum’s holdings since its acquisition, where it is displayed alongside other works from Munch’s early twentieth‑century period.
Context
Munch’s personal history of illness and familial loss shaped his preoccupation with inner emotional states. *Life: Right Part* reflects this focus, using a simple outdoor scene to explore themes of isolation and relational tension that recur throughout his broader body of work.
Artist & collection
Artist
Edvard Munch ( MUUNK; Norwegian: ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter.
