Description
Winter Night is a work by Edvard Munch from 1900: a snow-covered slope with dark trees through which the view opens onto the fjord and the far shore, and across the whole canvas there is not a single human figure. The original is held by the Kunsthaus Zürich under inventory number 2204, measures 120 x 80 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: | Winter Night |
| Other titles: | Vinternatt · Winternacht · Notte d’inverno · Téli éjszaka · Zimska noč |
| Painter: | Edvard Munch (1863–1944) |
| Year: | 1900 |
| Original size: | 120 cm x 80 cm |
| Original technique: | Oil on canvas |
| Painting style: | Symbolism |
| Location: | Kunsthaus Zürich (inv. no. 2204) |
| Our reproduction: | hand-painted oil on canvas, 10 sizes from 60 x 40 cm to 210 x 140 cm, custom on request |
Winter Night – Edvard Munch
What is shown?
There is nobody in the work. That is a rarity in Munch, who was above all a painter of people, but here he stayed alone with trees, snow and water. The scene shows a snow-covered slope with dense dark trees through which the view opens onto the fjord and the far shore. In the foreground stand large dark masses of trees, painted in blue-black and dark brown-green; left of centre a slender trunk rises in reddish brown, and at the far left stand a few smaller spruces in a lighter green. Because there is neither figure nor face, the question of whom the work depicts has no answer here; it depicts nobody, and we do not patch that over with guesses.
What is painted on the original?
The composition is built in three horizontal bands. The upper edge is a pale blue-grey sky, and below it, in a narrow strip, the far shore runs with low snow-covered rises; along its ridge runs a pronounced reddish-brown line, the only warm accent on the whole canvas. The middle is taken by the broad plane of the water in quiet blue-grey, still and without waves, with lighter streaks. Across the centre runs an almost black row of spruces separating the water from the slope. The colour in the foreground is laid so thickly that the swirls and turns of the brush are visible in it. The snow between the trees is pale blue-white and lilac-white, with cold blue shadows; nowhere is it pure white, but coloured throughout. In the lower left corner a few small light circles appear in the snow, made by a twist of the brush.
Why does this painting matter?
Symbolism in Munch usually ran through people; here it runs through landscape. The work shows that his manner was not tied to the figure: the same cold colour relations and the same long, bent contours that elsewhere carry faces and bodies here carry trees and shoreline. That is exactly why the winter landscapes around the turn of the century hold a particular place in his output, because they show what remains of his language once the human being is taken out of it. As a symbolist painting, Winter Night has one further quality easily missed in an online listing: it is landscape format, which is rarer in Munch than the upright.
What does the painting mean?
The scene tells nothing, and that is precisely its strength. There is no event, no meeting, nobody to feel on the viewer’s behalf; what remains is only the relation between the warm line on the horizon and the cold mass in the foreground. The dark trees stand so close that they act as a barrier we look through; the eye has to work past them to reach the water. Anyone who reads loneliness into it takes it from the arrangement and not from the scene, and it is honest to say so: the work asserts nothing, it places the viewer on a cold slope and leaves them there. Munch wrote little about his winter scenes, so we too assign them no message that could not be checked.
Where does Winter Night sit among Munch’s works?
Landscape without people is a minority line in Munch, and Winter Night is its best-known example. The opposite pole is the works where landscape is only a background for a figure: The Scream with its rolling sky above the fjord, Anxiety with the same water but a procession of faces, and Despair on the same road. Where the sky breaks into bands of colour there, the same bands settle here into three quiet layers. Closest in motif is Moonlight, also a night scene without action. If you were looking for the scene with a figure by the water, this is not that work; there is nobody here. 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 layers from the back forward: first the sky and the far shore, then the plane of the water, and last the dark mass of trees in the foreground. That mass is the most demanding part of this work, because it is not a uniform black but a thickly laid mixture of blue, brown and green in which the turns of the brush have to stay visible; smoothed out, the scene loses its depth. 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 also measures 120 x 80 cm, and is the only one on which you see the scene at the size it was painted. The format is landscape and the three horizontal bands need width, so the work does not take a narrow wall. The 60 x 40 and 70 x 50 cm sizes suit a shelf or a group of smaller works; 90 x 60 and 100 x 70 cm sit well above a chest of drawers; 130 x 90 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 colours are cold and quiet, the scene also carries a darker wall, which most works on this shelf cannot do. 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 three bands stay in their right relation; 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 his winter landscapes in our article on Edvard Munch.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the original?
In the Kunsthaus Zürich, under inventory number 2204.
Who is depicted?
Nobody. There is not a single human figure on the canvas – only trees, snow, water and the far shore.
Is Vinternatt the same work as Winter Night?
Yes. Vinternatt is the Norwegian title, Winternacht the German, Zimska noč the Slovene; it is 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 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 Munch’s language works without people too – a cold slope, still water and one warm line on the horizon.
Is the original for sale and what is it worth?
No. The work is in the public collection of the Kunsthaus Zürich 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?
Yes, and among Munch’s works it is probably the most suitable: it is quiet, with no scene that demands explanation, and it fits almost any room. At 90 x 60 and 100 x 70 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 snow-covered slope with dark trees, the fjord and the far shore; no figure on the canvas – 1900
- Original: 120 x 80 cm, oil technique on canvas, Kunsthaus Zürich (inv. no. 2204)
- Ours: a hand-painted oil work, ten sizes from 60 x 40 to 210 x 140 cm, stretched on a stretcher bar, unframed
- Worth knowing: the only warm tone on the entire canvas is the reddish-brown line along the ridge of the far shore
