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
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The themes of loneliness, sex, and death are given powerful expression in Edvard Munch's color woodcut Two Women on the Shore. A young girl, clad in white, gazes yearningly across the dark sea toward an unknown future. She seems oblivious to the deathlike figure beside her which she is fated to become. Incorporating the rough texture of the woodblock and limiting himself to basic shapes and a few colors, the Norwegian artist created a disturbing image of the fruitlessness of love and hope.
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 sawn into three sections, allowing precise registration of colors—dark blue, green, black, and red-brown inks—printed on cream Japanese paper, with subtle green crayon additions enhancing texture and depth. This experimental "jigsaw" technique, rare for the time, harnesses the wood's grain for raw, organic effects, contrasting the precision of traditional lithography. Japanese paper's absorbency further amplifies the inks' vibrancy, reflecting Munch's fascination with Eastern print traditions amid Western modernism. Housed in the Art Institute of Chicago's Prints and Drawings Department (image: 45.6 × 51.4 cm), this work exemplifies Munch's boundary-pushing printmaking, bridging 19th-century Symbolism and 20th-century Expressionism. Visitors are drawn to its moody palette and stark forms, inviting reflection on humanity's fragile place in the cosmos.
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...