The Girl by the Window

In a dark room, a girl in a white nightgown gazes out the window.

On the floor, moonlight streaming through the window frame falls as two pale, glowing rectangles.

A quiet, romantic, beautiful night scene.

It appears to be a painting that follows the convention of Nordic Romanticism: a figure standing by an open window.

Anyone might feel that way.

But in fact, an unsettling shadow lurks within this painting.

And at the time of its unveiling, it drew fierce criticism and caused a major scandal.

Late 1889.

Munch, staying in Saint-Cloud, a suburb of Paris, made a certain resolution.

It was a manifesto later known as the 'Saint-Cloud Manifesto'.

'From now on, I will not paint interiors with men reading or women knitting.'

What should be painted are living human beings who breathe, feel, suffer, and love.

He declared this.

This painting is a transitional work where that resolution was put into practice.

The setting is presumed to be Saint-Cloud, or a corner of Christiania after his return home.

The girl's face is a complete silhouette, immersed in darkness.

We cannot tell what her face looks like.

However, look at the lower right of the floor.

A rounded, unsettling shadow is depicted.

This evokes the abstract outline of a man in a top hat, creeping up on the girl.

Psychological unease peculiar to adolescence.

Unknown temptation.

Or, a premonition of violence.

Munch visualized not just a beautiful night, but the fear within the human psyche.

The fluid blue and brown tones evoke a deep melancholy.