A man sits in the foreground with his head propped on his hand, and behind him the shore opens in a long curve with tiny figures on the jetty. With us it is made as a hand-painted painting in oil on canvas.
Melancholy by Edvard Munch is a symbolist painting made between 1894 and 1896, held under accession number RMS.M.00249 by the Art Museums of Bergen (KODE), in the Rasmus Meyer Collection: a man sits in the foreground with his head propped on his hand, and behind him the shore opens in a long curve with tiny figures on the jetty. With us it is made as a hand-painted reproduction in oil, brushed onto canvas; 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: | Melancholy |
| Other titles: | Melankoli · Melancholie · Malinconia · Melankólia · Melanholija |
| Painter: | Edvard Munch (1863–1944) |
| Year: | 1894–1896 |
| Original size: | 100.5 cm x 81 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Symbolism |
| Location: | KODE, Bergen, Rasmus Meyer Collection (inv. no. RMS.M.00249) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted work in oil, 10 sizes from 60 x 50 cm to 223 x 179 cm, custom on request |
Melancholy – Edvard Munch
What is shown?
The man’s head and shoulders take up the right third of the canvas and reach the lower edge. We see him in three-quarter profile, turned to the left; he props his chin on his hand and holds his gaze down. The hair is dark brown, the face ochre yellow, the coat heavy and dark burgundy. The other hand rests clenched into a fist along the lower edge. In the distance, on the jetty, stand tiny figures: one light, almost white, and beside it one or two dark. None of them can be identified, there are no names on the canvas, and so we do not name them.
What is painted on the original?
To the left of the man and along the lower edge lie the large rounded forms of the shore rocks in pink, salmon, cream and ochre, with a green stripe and a dark brown curved outline between them. The shore climbs in a long curve from the lower left corner towards the centre right; the beach is pink-lilac and grey-lilac, the water pale grey-lilac with a few darker eddies. On the left of the water lies a small red-orange boat, the one object that breaks the long empty plane of water. Behind the figures a low greenish-yellow headland rises, with dark trees and a small red-roofed house; the sky is pale grey-lilac with violet and pink stripes. The colour is thin and the weave of the canvas shows through in places; only the face is more densely worked.
Why does this painting matter?
Symbolism works here through the arrangement and not through the scene. The one who thinks is large and near; what he thinks about is small and far. Munch laid the colour in broad, softly rounded planes with no sharp edges, so that only the difference in tone separates the forms. That is exactly why the work appears in surveys of the late nineteenth century as an early example of painting in which the landscape is not a background but the carrier of a mood. As a symbolist work it stands close to the Munch motif that became his best known, since the shore with the same long curve appears in both.
What does the painting mean?
The title names a mood; the scene tells no story. We see a person sitting turned away from what is happening behind him, and three tiny figures too far off to make out. Whether there is any connection between them the canvas does not say, and that is why the work holds: the viewer decides what is back there. We keep to what is visible: size is the interpretation here, because the thought stands in the foreground and the world behind it is reduced to three dots. Anyone who sees particular people or a particular story in the figures is adding it; the canvas does not confirm it, and we name none of them.
Where does Melancholy sit among Munch’s works?
The same long-curved shore and the same jetty return in The Scream, only there the railing runs straight towards the viewer. The same bowed figure by the water arrives with Despair, and the parting of a couple with Separation. The same shore motif, this time with more figures and in movement, is set out in The Dance of Life. Our reproduction follows the version in the Rasmus Meyer Collection in Bergen, inv. no. RMS.M.00249, and no other. We could not read this institution’s record on its own page in the course of this job, so it is cited here without a link to it; we give the details as we received them from it, and add nothing. The whole range is in the Edvard Munch gallery.
How is our hand-painted version made?
This is a painting on canvas made with brush and oil colour, not with a printer. The painter works from a high-resolution reference and builds the scene from the back forward: sky and water to begin with, then shore and rocks, and last the man in the foreground. The transitions are the hardest part: the colours never collide, they pass slowly into one another, and if the painter sets a sharp edge the scene falls into pieces. The tiny figures on the jetty are the size of a nail head and yet carry the whole sense, so we paint them last and with a single stroke. Because every hand-painted copy is made for its own order, no two match down to the detail, and small differences in the laying-on are a mark of the human hand and not a fault. For this work we have no photographs of our own from the workshop, so you will not find any on this page; the photograph of the finished canvas always reaches you for approval before dispatch.
Which size for which wall?
If you are unsure: 110 x 90 cm. At that size the tiny figures on the jetty still separate from one another, and the work still fits an ordinary wall. The 101 x 81 cm size is the closest to the proportion of the original and stands effectively life-size. The format is landscape, so it asks for width, and a narrow wall between a door and a window does not suit it. The 60 x 50 and 80 x 60 cm sizes belong in a hallway or among several smaller works; 90 x 70 and 101 x 81 cm sit well above a chest of drawers; 110 x 90 and 130 x 110 cm are the real painting for the living room or a quiet corner of a bedroom; 150 x 120, 180 x 150, 200 x 160 and 223 x 179 cm are for large walls and rooms with enough distance. Because the colours are pale and close together, the work needs a quiet wall and enough light. All ten sizes are made to order; none 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 reference, so the long curve of the shore stays whole and is not compressed; 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 in Slovenia, 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 canvas painting we make is made the same way, including paintings by famous painters from other periods; we write about Munch’s path in our article on Edvard Munch.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original?
In the Rasmus Meyer Collection at the Art Museums of Bergen (KODE), under accession number RMS.M.00249.
Why is there no link to the museum here?
Because we could not read this institution’s record on its own page in the course of this job. We would rather give the detail without a link than link a page we have not read.
Who are the people in it?
Nobody by name. The figures on the jetty are tiny and featureless, and there are no names on the canvas or in the record; we do not name them.
Why is the year given as a range?
Because the work was made between 1894 and 1896 and is recorded that way. We do not give a single year, because we do not have one.
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?
At 110 x 90 cm the tiny figures on the jetty still separate from one another; for other walls see the guide above.
Which size is closest to the original?
The 101 x 81 cm size. The original measures 100.5 x 81 cm, so that rung of the ten stands effectively life-size.
Can I have a size that is not listed?
Yes, we paint to measure and keep the side ratio of the reference.
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.
Is the original for sale?
No. The work is in a public collection; a hand-painted canvas is the one way to have this scene at home.
Is it suitable as a gift?
It is a quiet, restrained gift that lands well with someone who likes calm scenes. At 90 x 70 and 101 x 81 cm it arrives stretched and ready to hang. If you would rather leave the choice to them, a gift voucher is available.
- Subject: a man sits in the foreground with his head propped on his hand, and behind him the shore opens in a long curve with tiny figures on the jetty
- Original: oil on canvas, 1894–1896, 100.5 x 81 cm, KODE in Bergen, Rasmus Meyer Collection, inv. no. RMS.M.00249
- Ours: a hand-painted work in oil, ten sizes from 60 x 50 to 223 x 179 cm, stretched on a stretcher bar, unframed
- Worth knowing: the one who thinks is large and near, what he thinks about small and far – size is the interpretation here
