Boys Bathing

A boy stands on a rock, arms crossed, gazing quietly at the sea.
In his line of sight, other boys are swimming, stretching their limbs in the water.

In 1899, Edvard Munch was in deep distress.
His mental state was unstable due to severe asthma and alcoholism.
He was forced to recuperate in a sanatorium in Norway.
He felt a strong sense of inadequacy regarding his own frail body.
As if to escape from this, he became fixated on the 'nude body' as a healthy living form.

At that time, Gauguin's primitivist woodcuts were being introduced in Europe.
It was a trend to escape the deceit of urban civilization and entrust the 'source of life' to wild, untamed expression.
Munch, too, transitioned from refined copperplate engravings to woodcuts, which conveyed a powerful sense of materiality.
He sought to carve out primitive life impulses with his own hands.

For the creation of this work, Munch collaborated with the skilled printer Kildebø.
What Munch sought was an uneven 'fading' or 'streaking'.
This involved adjusting the press pressure irregularly to deliberately emphasize the wood grain.
Kildebø provided full technical support for the artist's experimental endeavors.