Edvard Munch's paintings in the Distillery

In the Distillery, one of the hotel's two buildings, every room is uniquely furnished and decorated with a reproduction of an Edvard Munch.

The Sower

In this motif, Munch depicts his helper Jensen in the kitchen garden at Nedre Ramme. The area where it was located, between Munch's house and the bay, may resemble this.

It could also be the apple trees we know Munch had below the house that can be glimpsed at the top of the motif.

Now it is important to remember that although in some works one can determine where they are from, it is rare for Munch to paint directly from what he sees. He most often made a selection, choosing a composition that he thought fit the result he wanted to achieve.

Munch's friend Christian Gierløff wrote about Nedre Ramme: "Three hundred rose trees and dozens of asparagus beds down a hill under an old pine forest, a hundred richly bearing fruit trees down towards the bay's beautiful stone quay, white doves and blue Asiatics fluttering around the house, white geese and variegated turkeys that flock, cackling and criticizing along with Munch's paintings."

Edvard Munch, "The Sower", 1913. Oil on canvas.

Under the Red Apples

The motif “Under the Red Apples” shows Ingeborg Kaurin and what is probably Edvard Munch in the apple orchard below the main house at Ramme.

Here Ingeborg is portrayed almost as a symbol of the fertile, while Munch is a passive observer.

The lush young woman dressed in white, with her round forms and round apple cheeks, appears as the embodiment of youthful health. She stands in contrast to the marked, thinner and dark-clad man, who through his appearance looks considerably older and less healthy. Despite the man’s appearance, the motif abounds with fruits, nature and the good life.

Edvard Munch, “Under the Red Apples”, 1913-15. Oil on canvas.

Coastal Landscape

The artist explored his surroundings and created motifs of the fjord, the beach, the meeting between fjord and beach, and people in the elements.

Munch's motifs became lush, full of life and color. They showed the further development that occurred in Munch's art after his shift to a healthier life. He seeks what can give people energy; closeness to nature, animals, sunlight, and the sea.

The sea and the fjord themselves became an interesting motif when the artist explored them in his motifs. Edvard Munch's statement "I do not paint after nature - I take from it - or pour from its rich barrel" came true when he picked elements from the surroundings and reproduced them in his art.

Edvard Munch, "Coastal Landscape", 1918.

High Summer

Edvard Munch painted several motifs of bathers and people sunbathing on the beaches and rocky cliffs of Nedre Ramme. The work “High Summer” is just such a motif, and shows several women sunbathing on the rocky cliff between the two bays on Munch’s property.

Ingeborg Kaurin is depicted sitting at the very front of the motif. The artist portrayed her as vital, natural and fresh.

In the motif “High Summer” the artist let the body colours of the female figures be shades corresponding to the colours of the mountain. Pink, white, yellow, orange and grey are repeated in both. In this way the women and nature appear as parts of the same thing, the women are “integrated into nature”. The colours stand in great contrast to the Kristianiafjord and Hurumlandet (the hills of Hurumlandet can be seen in the background of the motif), as well as parts of the rocky cliff, which are all depicted in different shades of blue.

The paint for the motifs from the rocky cliffs was applied in short strokes, the colours came straight from the tube.

Edvard Munch. "High Summer", 1915. Oil on canvas.

Neutral

The picture was used as the poster for the famous exhibition in 1915, "The Norwegian Art Exhibition", Charlottenborg, Copenhagen. Munch himself was heavily represented in the exhibition, which was an important gathering of Norwegian art abroad.

The Kaurin sisters are the models in this picture, which Munch painted down by the bay at Muncheramme. Ingeborg and Solveig Kaurin both helped with housekeeping and cooking for the artist. He also used them extensively as models in several sketches and paintings. You will be able to see several of the portraits here at Ramme.

The apple tree on the right in the motif is probably what we know Munch had below his house. While the bay may be the main bay below the house's property to the south. However, it is important to remember that even though in some works you can determine where they are from, it is rare that Munch painted directly from what he saw. He usually made a selection of elements and created a composition that he thought fit the result he wanted to achieve.

The First World War broke out the year before he painted this picture. It was to be used as the main image in the poster for the great Norwegian exhibition in Charlottenborg, Copenhagen. We can imagine what he wanted to convey with this picture, namely the neutrality of Norway and Denmark during the war.

The sisters are picking red apples in a sunny garden, completely naked, which shows us their vulnerability, but also the certainty that they are safe where they are in their landscape. It is the sisters who are in the foreground, it is the peace that we notice first. Furthermore, upon closer inspection we see that lightning and thunder are raging out at sea. The world's oceans became a war zone during the First World War.

Edvard Munch, "Nøitralien", 1915. Watercolor/watercolor on paper.

Coastal Landscape at Hvitsten

The property Edvard Munch bought at Nedre Ramme in Hvitsten in 1910 is idyllically situated in a bay. Here the artist was surrounded by the fjord and lush forest. He had a beach and rocky cliffs in the immediate vicinity.

This inspired several motifs where the surroundings made their presence felt. Here the artist could withdraw from the outside world and concentrate on what he enjoyed most; working on his art.

With relatively simple techniques, the artist gives us a motif of a cold winter day. The colors in the motif build up the illusion of cold.

Edvard Munch, "Coastal Landscape at Hvitsten", 1915. Oil on canvas.

Crying Nude

Jens Thiis, the director of the National Gallery, stated that this motif was painted at Ramme. Munch created a number of nudes with Ingeborg Kaurin as the model. He explored the possibilities of depicting the model in different poses and different moods. Examples of this can be seen in the works “Crying Nude” and “Sitting Nude”.

Jens Thiis wrote about Munch’s time at Nedre Ramme and these artworks:

“He was otherwise very preoccupied with his property, the forest behind, his white horse, his dogs, turkeys, chickens and geese, the asparagus beds and the richly bearing fruit trees. But he was also preoccupied with his new model INGEBORG, whose lush beauty leads him back to painting women. It is here at Ramme that he paints the magnificent female nudes, the kneeling one with her black hair loose and the reclining "Weeping Woman" in dazzling bodily splendor on a deep red bed, but with her face hidden in her hair and arms."

Edvard Munch, "Weeping Nude", 1913-14. Oil on canvas.

Waves

The very culmination of the pictures he painted from the cove on his property. At the very end of the bay are some trees bending in the strong wind. The trees are the focal point. The composition has a visual tension.

The picture was painted in 1919, but was sold in 1931. In the same year he painted another motif that is very similar to this, called The Wave. Munch often painted several variations on the same motif, and could find it difficult to sell a picture he loved, they are like my children, he said.

Edvard Munch particularly enjoyed himself here in Hvitsten because of the beautiful landscape and the curving lines. It was changeable and whimsical. A motif could change several times during the same day.

Munch often took his paint outside and painted there and then. The sea and the fjord themselves became an interesting motif when the artist explored them in his motifs.

Edvard Munch's statement "I do not paint after nature - I take from it - or ladle from its rich vessel", came true as he picked elements from his surroundings and reproduced them in art.

Edvard Munch, "Waves", 1919.

Leafy Sprout

The motif is taken from the mountainside next to Munch's house at Ramme. On the site we have now built an open-air theatre. Hurumlandet can be seen on the other side of the Oslofjord.

During his time at Ramme, Munch used his close surroundings in his motifs.

Edvard Munch's life and work at Nedre Ramme did not only concern the Aula decorations. Here, the artist could also tackle new motifs. Surrounded by the sea and the forest, together with his animals and helpers, he created beautiful works with motifs of bathers and sun worshippers, people and animals in rural surroundings.

He brought with him from his previous residence his renewed interest in Norwegian nature. At Ramme, he emphasized his natural surroundings and staged animals and people in his motifs. In several of the motifs, one can easily recognize the area's rocky cliffs and coastal landscape. The area by the Oslofjord was rendered with the artist's modern and bold brushstrokes.

Edvard Munch, "Leaf Jump", 1911-15. Oil on canvas.

Coastal Landscape from Hvitsten

At Nedre Ramme, Munch had a palette that he used for several of his motifs. Different shades of blue, green and purple are used in motifs such as “Fjord Landscape”, “Foliage Splash” and “Coastal Landscape from Hvitsten”.

In the latter, the way the water is painted, where there is little colour, almost transparent, contrasts with how the artist rendered the mountains, grass, trees and bushes – which are shown in colour fields of varying degrees of painting.

The colours are largely painted in demarcated fields, almost like a spring patchwork, which gives them an optical effect that differs from the artist’s oeuvre (the artist’s collected works).

Edvard Munch, “Coastal Landscape from Hvitsten”, 1922. Oil on canvas.

Bathing Man

The dancer Claude Beriot is the model depicted in Munch's motif "Bathing Man". The motif is among the artist's most vitalistic.

The dancer's athletic body, marked muscles and ability to hold different poses for a long time made him a sought-after model. Beriot was a model for Gustav Vigeland, Christian Krohg and Edvard Munch.

Vitalism was not really a style, but an attitude that influenced several artists in the period 1890-1940. The word itself originates from the word vital, from Latin, which means life. Several of the artists who took part in vitalism broke with taboos and depicted the naked and liberated human body out in nature, often in physical expression.

It is the healthy and strong human body that is depicted. The basis for vitalism came from the resistance to the decadence of the 1890s and the skepticism of the industrial and urban. For the artists, the life force became central, this manifested itself in all living things and sunlight became the central symbol of life.

Edvard Munch. "Bathing Man", 1918. Oil on canvas.