Summer

Summer, also from 1889, belongs to the group of seasonal paintings Munch was producing as he built his personal expressive language. By titling a canvas simply Summer he moves away from narrative toward the evocation of a state of being or a quality of time — an approach that would become central to the Life series of the following decade. The Stenersen Museum in Oslo holds this work; Rolf Stenersen was one of Munch's most important patrons, and his bequest formed one of the major Munch collections in Norway.

The summer subject allows Munch to work with warm, expansive colour and compositions conveying spatial and temporal openness. His handling in 1889 retains Post-Impressionist influence, with varied directional brushwork that follows form and light.