Self-Portrait in Hell, Edvard Munch (1903)
Self-Portrait in Hell clearly reveals how Munch at the time perceived his position as a man and an artist: a private hell.
In the foreground, Edvard Munch has placed his own naked and unprotected figure. The abstract background is painted with fierce, expressive brush-strokes that provoke an intense, nervous atmosphere. The colour-scale goes from yellow /orange to orange /brown via red to black and is reminiscent of flames and smoke. The huge black field to the left of the figure forms a tremendous threatening shadow that might evoke ideas of a grave or a great black wing.
The head with its dark contour is red as flames, while the figure seems to be illuminated from below. This gives the skin a wax-like yellow tone and also emphasises the white areas of the eyes. The light-effect thus contributes to the picture’s eerie atmosphere. A red brush-stroke traverses the neck like a wound.
