Chopping and Cutting Wood

Edvard Munch's 'Chopping and Cutting Wood' (1902) is a labor subject from his Åsgårdstrand summer — the physical activity of wood-cutting as a subject of direct rural observation quite different from his psychological figure compositions. His engagement with physical labor subjects gave his oeuvre a dimension of direct naturalist observation alongside the more celebrated symbolic works, and the specific activity of wood-cutting connected to the Norwegian rural world he observed during his summers on the fjord.

Munch renders the wood-cutting activity with the direct, energetic handling that suited the physical subject — the figures engaged in chopping and cutting depicted with the same expressive brushwork he brought to all his figure subjects, the physical energy of the labor conveyed through his handling. His handling of the outdoor light and the specific spatial context of the activity creates the naturalistic atmosphere of the direct observation subject.