The Girl by the Window
Edvard Munch (Norwegian, 1863–1944)
1893
View the original$19
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Materials & printing
Archival matte paper, 189 g/m² (10.3 mil), sourced from Japan, printed with multicolor water-based inkjet so every brushstroke stays crisp. Framed prints arrive ready to hang in a .75″ ayous-wood frame with an acrylite front. Sized to standard frames by cropping, never stretching — at most about 3% comes off one edge, which isn’t noticeable on most pieces, and we only offer a size when it stays that small.
Shipping & returns
Made to order and delivered in 5–8 business days (2–4 to print, 3–4 in transit). US shipping only for now. Because each print is made for your order, all sales are final — but if it arrives damaged or defective, send us a photo within 14 days and we’ll replace it free. Full policy.
Why is it this affordable?
A thin, flat margin on every piece — just enough to keep the store running. Most of what you pay is the print itself. We only sell sizes that reproduce at full quality, and we don’t mark up the large sizes the way most shops do.
About this work
Standing before a window in the dead of night, a young girl draws back a curtain to gaze at the street from her darkened room. Deep shadows envelop the interior, obscuring all but the suggestion of a rounded piece of furniture at the lower right. The darkness, combined with the sharply tilted floor, gives a sense of precariousness and isolation to the figure. Loosely applied brown, blue, and violet tones enhance the melancholy atmosphere. The window serves as a symbolic barrier, separating the interior from the outside world, but also as a membrane, through which moonlight casts glowing rectangles upon the floor. Although the girl’s actions suggest a narrative, the painting only provides mystery—we cannot see her facial expression, nor what she observes.
Girl by the Window belongs to a group of nocturnal scenes painted by Edvard Munch in the early 1890s, all characterized by moody blue tonalities. Around that time he penned a manifesto in which he declared that artists should depict “living people who breathe and feel, suffer and love.” This focus on the psychological realities of human existence found its ultimate expression in Munch’s iconic work The Scream (1893; Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo).
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 96.5 × 65.4 cm (38 × 25 3/4 in.)
Museum record · 4 owners · 6 exhibitions
Provenance
- Arthur von Franquet (died 1931), Braunschweig, from 1893; by descent to his nephew Herbert von Franquet, 1931.
- Sold to Neue Galerie, Vienna, 25 September 1935.
- Harald Hort Halvorsen, Oslo, 1937; sold by him to Pål Kavli, Oslo, c. 1937; by descent to Kavli’s second wife, Reidun Kavli (died 1996); sold to Mr. Allan Andersen, Denmark.
- Luc Bellier, Paris as agent for Allan Andersen; sold to the Art Institute, 2000.
Exhibitions
- Kristiania (present-day Oslo), Juveler Tostrups Gaard, Edvard Munch's Maleriudstilling, September 1892.
- Berlin, Verein Berliner Künstler, Sonder-Ausstellung des Malers Edvard Munch aus Christiania, November 5–19, 1892; traveled to Düsseldorf, Eduard Schulte, November 1892; Köln, Eduard Schulte, December 1892; Berlin, Equitable-Palast, December 1892 – January 1893; Copenhagen, Skandinavisk Kunstudstillings Lokaler, February – March 1893; Dresden, Victoriahaus, May 1893.
- Lugano, Museo d'Arte Moderna, Edvard Munch, September 19–December 13, 1998 Vienna, Graphische Sammlung Albertina "Edvard Munch: Themes and Variations" March 14-June 22, 2003.
- Oslo, Munch Museum, "Munch becoming Munch: Artistic Strategies, 1880–1892," October 8, 2008–January 12, 2009.
- Art Institute of Chicago, Becoming Edvard Munch: Influence, Anxiety, and Myth, February 14–April 26, 2009.
- Bremen, Kunsthalle Bremen, Edvard Munch - Mystery behind the Canvas, October 15, 2011-Febiary 26, 2012.
