Description
Golgotha is a work by Edvard Munch from 1900: a cross bearing an outstretched figure rises above a dense crowd of faces that press into the foreground and look straight out at us. The original is held by the Munchmuseet in Oslo under inventory number MM.M.00036, measures 80.5 x 120.5 cm and is oil on canvas. With us it is made as a hand-painted reproduction in oil; you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval before dispatch, and you choose between ten sizes or a size of your own.
| Title: | Golgotha |
| Other titles: | Golgata · Golgatha · Golgota |
| Painter: | Edvard Munch (1863–1944) |
| Year: | 1900; signed upper right “E. Munch Kornhaug sanatorium 1900” |
| Original size: | 80.5 cm x 120.5 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Expressionism |
| Location: | Munchmuseet, Oslo (inv. no. MM.M.00036) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, 10 sizes from 47 x 32 cm to 210 x 140 cm, custom on request |
Golgotha – Edvard Munch
What is shown?
The scene is stretched across the width. In the upper half stands the cross, with a figure outstretched on it, arms reaching towards the edges of the canvas and the head tilted to one side. Below, a crowd of faces extends across the full width, pressed close together, and it is those faces that are the real subject of the work: some look up towards the cross, many look straight out, at the viewer. None of them is named. The museum entry carries no names and Munch named no models, so we too declare no face to be a particular person. The figures are dressed in dark clothes, the faces pale and gathered into a band that thins towards the edges.
What is painted on the original?
The format is landscape, wider than it is tall, and that proportion is what gives the scene its shape: the cross is the vertical in the middle of a broad horizontal mass. The sky behind the cross is divided into bands of cold blue, greenish and dirty yellow that lighten towards the horizon. The ground is barely indicated; the painter left it as a dark surface out of which the figures grow. The faces are painted quickly, each with a few strokes, so that masks appear rather than portraits; some are no more than a light patch with two dark points. The colour lies thin and in places so sparingly that the weave shows through. Munch signed the work at the upper right and added the place of making to the signature, which the museum entry quotes word for word.
Why does this painting matter?
Expressionism took the religious scene here and turned it psychological. Munch did not paint the biblical episode with its customary figures and attributes but exposure as a state: one man above, a crowd below, and no mediator between them. That is why the work reads as a continuation of his central cycle, in which the individual and the crowd always end up in a strained relation. As an expressionist painting, Golgotha is one of the few cases in which Munch used Christian iconography directly, and that exceptional standing gives it its place in surveys of his work.
What does the painting mean?
The scene tells not an event but a gaze. The cross stands high, yet the work is not turned towards it; the weight is below, in the faces looking out. Whoever stands before the canvas occupies the place that this crowd is looking at, and that is what makes the work uneasy: the viewer is not a witness to the scene but its addressee. Munch painted the motif during a period he spent in a sanatorium, and he wrote the place into the signature itself; what exactly he meant by it is nowhere explained, and we do not assume. What remains is the relation the scene sets out plainly: a single man, exposed and seen by everyone, and a crowd that watches and says nothing.
Where does Golgotha sit among Munch’s works?
The crowd of faces turned towards the viewer is a standing motif of Munch’s, and Golgotha is its sharpest version. The same band of pale faces carries Anxiety, where the crowd comes along the road above the fjord, and Evening on Karl Johan, where it passes into a city street. The opposite pole is The Scream, where a single figure remains and the crowd is absent, and Despair with the same railing but a lowered head. If you want the scene with the cross, this is the right page; if you want the one with hands at the head, that is The Scream. The whole range is in the Edvard Munch gallery.
How is our hand-painted version made?
This is a canvas painting made with brush and oil colour, not a printer. The painter works from a high-resolution museum reference and builds the scene in the same order as the original: first the bands of sky, then the dark mass below, and last the faces. They are decisive on this work because they are small and few; each is a handful of strokes, and if one is finished too far the scene loses its mask-like coldness. Because everything is done by hand, every hand-painted copy is its own, and two examples are never quite alike.
Which size for which wall?
If you are unsure: 120 x 80 cm. That size matches the original, which measures 80.5 x 120.5 cm, and is the only one on which you see the scene at the size it was painted. The format is landscape and the wide crowd below needs horizontal room, so the work does not take a narrow wall. The 47 x 32 and 60 x 40 cm sizes suit a shelf or a group of smaller works; 70 x 50 and 90 x 60 cm sit well above a chest of drawers; 100 x 70 and 150 x 100 cm are the real painting for the living room above a sofa; 180 x 120, 195 x 130 and 210 x 140 cm are for large walls and rooms with enough distance. Because the scene is dark, it works best on a light, quiet wall and under warmer light. All ten sizes are made to order; no size here is held in stock as an already painted work.
Custom size, stretcher bar and frame
If none of the ten sizes suits your wall, we paint to your measurements and keep the proportion of the original, so the crowd below is not squeezed into a narrow band; that is our painting made to measure. Every example arrives stretched on a wooden stretcher bar, ready to hang; the stretcher bar can be left off at the order. On this page the canvas is offered without a frame; the frame is chosen separately with our 3D application, which shows every one of our frame profiles on this motif: gold, silver, black, white and natural wood. The application is for frame choice only. If you would like to see how the work will look on your own wall, that is our separate room-placement service.
Delivery and guarantee
Every example is made to order in our studio, so allow 15 to 45 days depending on size. We ship it stretched and protected for transport, without customs inside the European Union. Before dispatch you receive a photograph of the finished work for approval, and our returns policy applies to every order. Every painting on canvas we make is made the same way, including paintings by famous painters from other periods; we write about Munch’s path and the years in which this scene was made in our article on Edvard Munch.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original?
In the Munchmuseet in Oslo, under inventory number MM.M.00036.
Who are the faces in the foreground?
Nobody by name. The museum entry carries no names and Munch named no models; they are nameless faces painted as masks.
Is Golgata the same work as Golgotha?
Yes. Golgata, Golgatha and Golgota are spellings of the same title in different languages; it is one and the same work of 1900.
Is this a print?
No. The order is painted by hand in oil colour onto canvas; the brushstrokes can be seen and felt.
Which size should I choose?
The 120 x 80 cm size matches the original almost one to one; for other walls see the guide above.
Can I have a size that is not listed?
Yes, we paint to measure and keep the side ratio of the original.
How is it delivered?
Stretched on the stretcher bar and protected for transport, in 15 to 45 days, once you confirm the photograph of the finished work.
What does the work say in one sentence?
That exposure is a state the crowd watches and does not interrupt – and the viewer stands where that crowd is looking.
Is the original for sale and what is it worth?
No. The work is in the public collection of the Munchmuseet and is not for sale; a hand-painted canvas is the one way to have this scene at home.
How high should I hang it?
The centre at eye level, roughly 145–150 cm from the floor; above a sofa 15–25 cm over the back. Because the format is landscape, leave some empty wall at the sides.
Is it suitable as a gift?
It is a serious, dark motif: choose it for someone who knows Munch and has the right wall for it. At 70 x 50 and 90 x 60 cm it arrives stretched and ready to hang. If you would rather leave the choice to the recipient, a gift voucher is available.
- Subject: a cross with an outstretched figure above a broad band of pale faces looking towards the viewer – 1900
- Original: 80.5 x 120.5 cm, oil technique on canvas, Munchmuseet, Oslo (MM.M.00036)
- Ours: a hand-painted oil work, ten sizes from 47 x 32 to 210 x 140 cm, stretched on a stretcher bar, unframed
- Worth knowing: the signature at the upper right names the place of making as well – the museum quotes it word for word, with the year
