Night in Saint-Cloud by Munch in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 2021

Title: Night in Saint-Cloud

Artist: Edvard Munch (Norwegian, Løten 1863–1944 Ekely)

Date: 1893

Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 27 9/16 x 22 5/16 in. (70 x 56.7 cm)

Classification: Paintings

Credit Line: Private collection

Accession Number: L.2018.2

Munch first undertook this composition in 1890 (Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo), while living in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Cloud. His friend, the Danish poet Emanuel Goldstein, posed for the enigmatic top-hatted figure silhouetted in the moonlight. The melancholy mood has been related to the recent death of Munch’s father, but the scene seems to have held broader significance for the artist. He repeated it several times in different media; this version was painted in 1893, in Berlin, at a time when he made a number of nocturnal window scenes, notable for their intimate atmosphere and evocative light effects.

Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/441924