Four Stages of Life

Edvard Munch's 'Four Stages of Life' (1902) is an allegorical subject engaging with the ages of human existence — the classical theme of the stages of life (childhood, youth, maturity, old age) was given his characteristic treatment of the elemental forces underlying human experience. His engagement with this traditional allegorical subject was filtered through the psychological intensity and Symbolist visual language that gave all his symbolic subjects their distinctive character.

Munch renders the four stages of life with the bold simplification and psychological directness of his symbolic compositions — the figures representing each stage depicted with the archetypal quality he sought in his allegorical subjects. His handling of the compositional organization — how the different ages relate to each other spatially and psychologically — creates the allegory's visual structure. His palette and handling give each stage its appropriate emotional character within the overall composition.