Inger on the Beach

Inger, Munch's younger sister, looks out across from the shore in this painting from 1889. Åsgårdstrand was the location for this artwork, somewhere that inspired many of the artist's work. This piece was originally known as Summer Night.

Inger, Munch's younger sister, looks out across from the shore in this painting from 1889. Åsgårdstrand was the location for this artwork, somewhere that inspired many of the artist's work. It can now be found at the Kunstmuseum in Bergen, Norway, whilst the best collection of his work can be found at the Oslo-based Munch Museum where you can enjoy some of his career highlights including The Scream (1910) and Madonna.

Inger på stranden or Sommeernatt, to use its two original names in Norwegian, was sized at 126 cm × 161 cm (50 in × 63 in) as a standard oil on canvas. Munch's sister, Inger, sits quietly on the shore, dressed in classic clothing and looking out to sea. She holds a small hat in her hands, perhaps to protect it from strong winds or instead just to suit the right pose for the artist. This allows him to capture more of her facial features. A small trail leads out behind her shoulder, most likely an old rickety fence which has been damaged by the sea.

In the foreground we find just a single suggestion of a wave, painting a picture of relative tranquiliity. One of the most memorable items of this painting is the sequence of rocks around which she sits, all with their own individual colour scheme and angle of reflection. We see a palette of greys, blues and greens, with some reflected directly from the sea. Inger herself sits in the purest of white dresses, perhaps a signal by the artist of her perfection or purity.