Description
Rue Lafayette by Edvard Munch is an impressionist painting from 1891, held under accession number NG.M.01725 by the Nasjonalmuseet in Oslo: the man stands at the left edge, seen from behind and a little from the side, in a long dark coat with a top hat on his head. 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: | Rue Lafayette |
| Other titles: | |
| Painter: | Edvard Munch (1863–1944) |
| Year: | 1891 |
| Original size: | 73 cm x 92 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Impressionism |
| Location: | National Museum (Nasjonalmuseet) in Oslo (NG.M.01725) |
| Our reproduction: | a hand-painted work in oil, ten sizes from 40 x 50 cm to 180 x 225 cm, stretched on a stretcher bar, unframed |
Rue Lafayette – Edvard Munch
What is shown?
The man stands at the left edge, seen from behind and a little from the side, in a long dark coat with a top hat on his head. Both hands rest on the railing and he leans slightly forward. The ironwork runs across the whole canvas as a hard diagonal that divides the scene in two: balcony and figure above, street below. The roadway falls away steeply to the right and is full of sunlight; small figures and carriages move along it, given in a few strokes and without faces. Tall city façades with rows of windows rise at the left, and at the right stand the edge of the balcony and the pale cloth of an awning. Almost no sky is visible; the street takes the whole space. The scene has no centre in the usual sense: the eye runs down the diagonal of the railing and stops nowhere until it reaches the bottom of the street. That is why the painting reads as a caught moment rather than an ordered view.
What is painted on the original?
The painter signed and dated the canvas: E.Munch 91. The work belongs to Munch’s Paris period, when he was living on the Rue Lafayette and painting the view straight down from his own balcony. What is unusual is the angle: the viewer stands right beside the man and looks down with him, becoming a participant in the scene rather than an observer of it.
Why does this painting matter?
Impressionism works here not through a story but through what is actually visible on the canvas: what is unusual is the angle: the viewer stands right beside the man and looks down with him, becoming a participant in the scene rather than an observer of it. That is why the work belongs to this painting style and not merely to the period it was made in. Munch used the same approach across a run of works from those years, and this is one of them; what makes it worth looking at is the relation between what is painted precisely and what is left open.
What does the painting mean?
We keep to what is visible. The painter signed and dated the canvas: E.Munch 91. What that means the canvas does not say in words, and that is exactly why the work has stayed open to interpretation. There are no names on the canvas and none in the record we hold; anyone who sees particular people or a particular story in the scene is adding it, and we do not claim it. What is beyond dispute is the arrangement and the colour: what is painted, and nothing further.
Where does the work sit among Munch’s works?
The same painterly approach returns in other Munch works on this shelf: The Girls on the Bridge, Self-Portrait with Cigarette, The Dance of Life, Death in the Sickroom. Where exactly this work stands among them is a matter of reading and not of the record; we state only what is on the canvas and in the inventory. 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, layer by layer, so that the transitions between tones stay soft. Because every hand-painted copy is made for its own order, no two match down to the detail; 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: 90 x 110 cm. The 50 x 63 cm size is the closest of all to the proportion of the original. The format is upright, so it asks for height, not width. 40 x 50 cm, 50 x 63 cm, 64 x 81 cm belong in a hallway or among several smaller works, 71 x 91 cm, 80 x 100 cm, 90 x 110 cm are the real painting for the living room or a quiet corner of a bedroom, 110 x 140 cm, 130 x 160 cm, 150 x 190 cm, 180 x 225 cm are for large walls and rooms with enough distance. 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 scene is not stretched; 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. 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 on a wooden stretcher bar and protected for transport, without customs inside the European Union; the frame is not included and is chosen separately with our 3D application, which is for frame choice only. 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 National Museum (Nasjonalmuseet) in Oslo, under accession number NG.M.01725. We read the detail on the museum’s own record page.
Who or what is shown in the painting?
The man stands at the left edge, seen from behind and a little from the side, in a long dark coat with a top hat on his head. We can name none of the figures: there are no names on the canvas and none in the record we hold.
When was the work made?
The record gives 1891. This work has no other title – it is listed identically in all our languages, so the accession number is what identifies it.
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 90 x 110 cm size is our recommendation for an ordinary wall. The 50 x 63 cm size is the closest of all to the proportion of the original. For other walls see the guide above.
Can I have a size that isn’t 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.
What is the painting about, in one sentence?
In one sentence: that is why the painting reads as a caught moment rather than an ordered view.
Is the original for sale and what is it worth?
No. The work is in a public collection and is not for sale; we give no value for it, because we have none from a source we could check. 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 upright, leave some empty wall above and below it.
Is it suitable as a gift?
As a work of art it is a considered gift; in the middle sizes it arrives stretched and ready to hang. If you would rather leave the choice to the recipient, a gift voucher is available.
- Subject: the man stands at the left edge, seen from behind and a little from the side, in a long dark coat with a top hat on his head
- Original: oil on canvas, 1891, 73 cm x 92 cm, National Museum (Nasjonalmuseet) in Oslo, inv. no. NG.M.01725
- Ours: a hand-painted work in oil, ten sizes from 40 x 50 cm to 180 x 225 cm, stretched on a stretcher bar, unframed
- Worth knowing: the original measures 73 cm x 92 cm and its format is upright
