Edvard Munch – On the Veranda

On the Veranda

On the Veranda by Edvard Munch is an oil painting on canvas of 1902, held under inventory number NG.M.00810 by the National Museum (Nasjonalmuseet) in Oslo. The original measures 115.5 x 86.5 cm and stands upright. The scene is a wooden veranda whose railing runs diagonally into the depth, with two figures standing beside it, turned away from the viewer.

At the right stands a woman in a long dark dress and hat, and beside her a smaller figure in lighter clothes. We see neither face; the bodies are reduced to two dark planes and one light one. At the left a climbing plant with pale leaves grows over the rail, and beyond it a garden opens with a slender young spruce at its centre, low trees and a pale sky. At the far right the corner of a roof appears. The railing is the load-bearing shape of the scene: its diagonal cuts the canvas in two and places the viewer on the veranda, just behind figures who are themselves looking out.

The scene is therefore about looking rather than about the people. Because there are no faces and the bodies are simplified, their individuality is taken away and they become part of the view. The work belongs to Munch’s years around 1900, when alongside the great Frieze of Life motifs he was also painting gardens, verandas and houses by the shore. The veranda is a recurring space for him: neither inside nor outside, but the threshold between the two.

The paint is laid in broad, calm planes with no worked-up drawing. The railing is given in a few long drags, and the leaves of the climber in small bright touches that are the only lively texture on the canvas. The palette is summer green and bluish, with the white of the rail and the pale sky as the brightest passages. In places the layer is thin and the weave of the canvas shows through.

Ours is hand-painted in oil on canvas, brush stroke by brush stroke, made to order and never a print. Because every canvas is made individually, tones and strokes differ slightly from one to the next; those small differences are the mark of a hand rather than a flaw. The hardest passage here is the railing, which must stay straight and calm, since any wavering line immediately spoils the depth of the scene. As hand-painted canvas art this motif asks above all for precision in the long strokes.

The format is upright and the mood calm and summery, so the painting suits a living room, a bedroom, a conservatory or a hallway with a window. A light, warm wall serves it best and supports the green of the garden; against a cool wall the greens flatten out. Hang it at eye level in soft natural light. As wall decor it works particularly well where there is a real window nearby, since the scene itself is about looking through one.

Ten sizes are available along with a custom size, and every canvas can be ordered framed or unframed. You choose the frame in our 3D app, where mouldings and colours can be tried against this motif; a narrow white or pale wooden moulding repeats the white of the rail. More of the artist is in the Edvard Munch gallery, and we write about his life and painting on the Edvard Munch blog.