The fairy forest

About the original:

In 1903, Munch was asked by doctor Max Linde to decorate his child's room in the family's villa in Lübeck. When Munch presented the motifs to Linde in December 1904, they were not well received. The doctor found the motifs of kissing and dancing couples a bit "adult" for placement in a children's room. One exception was perhaps the motif associated with the "fairy tale forest", but this was not acquired by Linde either. The "Linde frieze"'s paintings thus ended up in various places. Munch had been working on the fairytale forest as a motif since the summer in Åsgårdstrand in 1903. He continued to deal with it, among other things, in the so-called "Freia frieze". It was commissioned by director Johan Throne Holst for the chocolate factory Freia's 25th anniversary in 1923.

The Adventure Forest is a testamentary gift from Alfred Larsen in 1951.

Text: Ellen J. Lerberg

From "Edvard Munch in the National Museum", The National Museum 2008, ISBN 978-82-8154-034-7

Date: 1901 or 1902

Other titles: The Fairytale Forest (ENG)

Designation: Painting

Material and technique: Oil on canvas

Technique: Oil

Material: Canvas

Dimensions: 79 x 106.5 cm

Subject: Visual arts

Classification: 532 - Visual arts

Motif: Landscape

Type of motif: Landscape

Acquisition: Testamentary gift from Alfred Larsen 1950, received 1951

Inventory no.: NG.M.02237

Part of exhibition: Munch and Photography, 1997

Edvard Munch. Anxiety, 2012 - 2013

Edvard Munch and his pictures from the fairytale forest, 1979 - 1980

Edvard Munch. Paintings from the fairytale forest as well as etchings, lithographs and drawings, 1979

Edvard Munch. Paintings from the fairytale forest as well as etchings, lithographs and drawings, 1979

Munch e lo spirito del Nord. Scandinavia nel secondo Ottocento, 2010 - 2011

Munch 150, 2013

Edvard Munch, 1927

The magical north. Finnish and Norwegian art around 1900, 2015

Lindefriesen, 1982

Landschaft als Kosmos der Soule. Malerei des nordischen Symbolismus bis Munch, 1998

The magical north. Finnish and Norwegian art around 1900 (Main title/ applied/ Norwegian), 2015

Registration level: Single object

Owner and collection: The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Visual Art Collections

Photo: Børre Høstland/Lathion, Jacques