Study of an Old Man's Head

Study of an Old Man's Head of 1885, in the Munch Museum, is one of several academic figure studies Munch produced during his training years at the Royal School of Art and Design and subsequently at Frits Thaulow's open-air academy. Studies of aged heads were a standard exercise in nineteenth-century academic training — the weathered face providing a demanding test of tonal and textural observation. Munch tackled the subject with the diligence of a student determined to master his craft before departing from it, and the comparison with his later aged-figure imagery reveals how fundamentally his expressive intentions would shift across the decade.

The deep facial modelling, using dark shadows and sharp highlights to render aged skin and bone structure, reflects the academic study conventions of Norwegian Naturalism. The looser, more broken handling of the background and collar contrasts with the more controlled treatment of the face, suggesting Munch's emerging tendency to concentrate pictorial energy on expressive passages.