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Havfruen (Mermaid) signed and dated 'E. Munch 1896' (lower right) oil on burlap 391/2 x 126in. (100 x 320cm.) Painted in 1896 PROVENANCE Aksel Heiberg, Oslo, by whom commissioned from the Artist. By descent to Mrs Wenche Stang, Oslo; sale, Christie's, London, 3 July 1979, lot 62 (to Lumley Cazalet on behalf of an American client). Galerie Beyeler, Basel. NOTES The Munch Museum has kindly confirmed the authenticity of this work. 'It was evening. I walked along by the sea - the moon shone between the clouds. The stones reared up over the water, like the mysterious magic inhabitants of the ocean, there were large white heads, laughing - some up on the beach, others down in the water. The girl walking by my side seemed like a mermaid, with shining eyes, and her flowing hair gleamed in the light from the horizon' (Munch, quoted in R. Stang, Edvard Munch: The Man and the Artist, London, 1979, p. 96). Edvard Munch was a painter of his soul and his feelings. He saw no reason to paint the world around him with any scientific accuracy, but intended rather to convey a sense of the inner world, of emotion, torment and desire rather than of scenes of beauty, mere likenesses or art for art's sake. 'The camera,' Munch stated, 'will never compete with the brush and the palette, until such time as photographs can be taken in Heaven or Hell' (Munch, quoted in Stang, op. cit., p. 15). Munch's art was wholly linked to his life, was a direct product of his anxieties. Painted in 1896, Havfruen ('Mermaid') appears to be a literal embodiment in oils of Munch's walk on the beach. Each element is present: moon, clouds and sea, and not least the mermaid herself, lying seemingly vulnerable on the beach, wide-eyed with anticipation. While Munch's art was based on his own interior world, it is surprising that, bar a skeleton here and a strange creature there, he seldom strayed into the world of mythology. Here, however, he has chosen to show the mermaid as though she were almost completely out of her natural habitat. Munch is not only presenting the viewer with a product of myth and mythology, but has managed even to convey a sense of the mermaid's predicament, adding a layer of psychology that almost makes the whimsical idea of such a creature evaporate, so absorbed are we in her plight. To emphasise the psychology, rather than the mythology, Munch has also deliberately concealed most of her tail. A fin is visible poking out of the water, and there is a small transitional area where her legs melt into a tail, but this is hidden enough, discreet enough, that the overall effect is that of a naked woman, not a mermaid. In this, Munch appears to have committed his walk on the beach to canvas, the anxieties, the sexual tensions, the fears and the anticipation mingling in a heady brew. Increasing the viewer's awareness of these sexual tensions, Munch has chosen to make the woman's legs meet paradoxically at her waist, while they join at the feet to become the tail. This is accentuated by the artist's use of one of his most celebrated and recognisable motifs, the moon with its stretched reflection on the sea, a strange and phallic light cast across the anxious mermaid. Havfruen is no whimsical depiction of a Hans Christian Andersen character, but instead the manifestation of Munch's own experience, of his own psychology, metamorphosed into an engaging and beguiling form. Indeed, Munch appears to have taken the angst of Andersen's Little Mermaid, her unwillingness to accept her fate, her intrigued glimpses of the world of humans, and transformed it into autobiography. Havfruen was painted at one of the most pivotal points in Munch's career. He had by now travelled extensively, not least in France and Germany, and was aware of movements in both countries. His art had gained purpose and strength, and he himself had gained confidence, especially after his 1895 traveling exhibition of paintings which caused great sandals and outcry. Munch himself was now a doyen of the avant-garde, and was enjoying both the publicity and its fruits. In 1896, Aksel Heiberg, a wealthy brewer, had attempted to commission twelve Norwegian artists to carry out a set of engravings. He appears to have been an enthusiastic sponsor of many activities, and an Arctic island in Canada was even given his name in recognition of his financing an exploratory expedition. Munch was one of the artists that Heiberg selected, an interesting choice as he had only recently begun producing graphic work, although its fame had spread quickly. Although the print commission fell through, in July of that year Heiberg commissioned Munch to paint a panel for his house. Havfruen was the monumental fruit of this commission.