Title of Artwork: “Christmas in the Brothel”
Artwork by Edvard Munch
Year Created 1905
Summary of Christmas in the Brothel
An oil painting by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch, entitled Christmas in the Brothel (Norwegian: Julaften I bordell), depicts a naughty Christmas scene in a brothel. There is a Munch Museum in Oslo that houses the painting, which was completed between 1903 and 1904.
All About Christmas in the Brothel
There had been a setback in Munch’s career, and this portrait of Senator Holthusen, the father-in-law of Munch patron Max Linde, was painted at a difficult time for the artist.
As a result, Munch was plagued by anxiety, which he tried to alleviate by drinking. This “light yet melancholy” painting depicts brothel girls who have just finished decorating a Christmas tree after visiting a Lübeck brothel on the eve of the holiday season.
In the painting, Munch’s “pietistic home background” and Linde’s “upper-class household” (where Munch was staying at the time) are both referred to as “ironic, sentimentally unholy.”
Fauvism can be seen in this painting, as it does in many others. An entire series of Munch paintings, titled “The Green Room,” was inspired by one particular room in a German brothel.
Information Citations
En.wikipedia.org, https://en.wikipedia.org/.
