Rediscovered Munch painting with ‘intriguing mystery’ to go on display in UK for first time
Rediscovered Munch painting with ‘intriguing mystery’ to go on display in UK for first time
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Striking image will be unveiled at National Portrait Gallery in March, as part of a major exhibition of the Norwegian master’s portraits. At first glance, it is a striking portrait by Edvard Munch, painted in 1892, a year before the Norwegian master was to create his most famous masterpiece, The Scream.
![[Close-up shows two tiny figures in white - looking like the cuff of a shirt - in what might be a dim landsscape]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/ba55edaef366a7932daaa9c7ce38af475b27469f/569_2866_1732_1039/master/1732.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
But peer closely at the man’s sleeve along the bottom edge and two embracing, ethereal figures in a mysterious moonlit landscape are revealed. The intriguing painting within a painting by one of the most significant artists of the 20th century, a pioneer of expressionism, is to be seen for the first time in Britain after its rediscovery. It will be unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in March as part of a large exhibition, Edvard Munch Portraits.
![[A painting of three girls on a bridge ]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/e1252c1ea5d560cfa9aea99498f5004d3d414ea6/0_0_4359_4811/master/4359.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The sitter for the painting was Munch’s friend Thor Lütken, a lawyer who gave him professional help and spent summer months with him on the Oslo fjord. One of Lütken’s daughters also appears in Munch’s painting The Girls on the Bridge (1901). The portrait of Lütken, an oil on canvas, was listed as “location unknown” in the definitive catalogue of Munch’s paintings.
![[Munch’s 1893 painting of The Scream]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/93d06b9535162f4f2cb6db1dd97ae49516d0a4b2/0_0_3800_5034/master/3800.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
It had in fact been with the lawyer’s descendants, who had moved to Spain, loaning it to the National Museum of Arts of Catalonia in Barcelona before selling it in 2022, so that several members of the family could benefit from it. It was sold by a Barcelona art dealer, Artur Ramon, who said that Munch was believed to have painted it for his friend in lieu of payment for his legal services.
![[The rear view of a girl standing on a jetty ]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/fd779edadd1565fbc4878ffac6ec442d521bf812/0_0_3758_5000/master/3758.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
