Where Is Madonna? See It at Munch Museum

Q: Where can I see Madonna by Munch?

The primary painted version is at the Munch Museum in Oslo. Edvard Munch painted several versions between 1894 and 1895. Another version is at the National Gallery of Norway.

Q: Why is this Madonna unconventional?

Munch depicts the Madonna as a sensual, nude woman with closed eyes and flowing dark hair, not the traditional robed Virgin Mary. She's shown in a moment of ecstasy rather than pious devotion. The combination of sexuality and religious titling was deliberately provocative.

Q: What style is this?

It's Expressionist and Symbolist. Munch used sinuous lines and dark, atmospheric color to convey intense emotion. The painting belongs to his 'Frieze of Life' series, which explored love, anxiety, and death across interconnected works.

Q: Was the painting ever stolen?

Yes. The Munch Museum version was stolen in August 2004 alongside The Scream in an armed daylight robbery. Both paintings were recovered in 2006, though the Madonna suffered some damage. The theft remains one of the most brazen art heists in history.

Around 1894, Edvard Munch painted this Madonna between 1892 and 1895, creating at least five versions of the composition. A half-length woman appears against a swirling dark background, her eyes closed, her expression somewhere between ecstasy and death. She's nude from the waist up, her arms raised behind her head.

Whether this represents the Virgin Mary remains debated. Munch used titles like "Loving Woman" interchangeably with "Madonna." The model was Dagny Juel-Przybyszewska, a friend whose beauty captivated the artist's circle. Munch saw the image as representing the cycle of generation and decay. Love and death intertwined.

The version at the Munch Museum in Oslo measures 91 by 70.5 centimeters. In August 2004, armed thieves stole it along with The Scream. Police recovered both paintings two years later, damaged but repairable. Munch also created lithograph prints with a border of wriggling sperm and a fetus in the corner, making the procreative symbolism explicit.

The primary painted version is at the Munch Museum in Oslo. Edvard Munch painted several versions between 1894 and 1895. Another version is at the National Gallery of Norway.

Munch depicts the Madonna as a sensual, nude woman with closed eyes and flowing dark hair, not the traditional robed Virgin Mary. She's shown in a moment of ecstasy rather than pious devotion. The combination of sexuality and religious titling was deliberately provocative.

In the lithograph version, Munch surrounded the figure with a border of sperm cells and placed a fetus-like figure in the lower left corner. The imagery connects conception, sexuality, and birth, linking the Madonna to the cycle of life and creation in a visceral, non-religious way.

It's Expressionist and Symbolist. Munch used sinuous lines and dark, atmospheric color to convey intense emotion. The painting belongs to his 'Frieze of Life' series, which explored love, anxiety, and death across interconnected works.

Yes. The Munch Museum version was stolen in August 2004 alongside The Scream in an armed daylight robbery. Both paintings were recovered in 2006, though the Madonna suffered some damage. The theft remains one of the most brazen art heists in history.

Madonna

Details

Where to See It

The Artist

More by Edvard Munch

Portrait of the Painter Jensen Hjell

View over the Rover at St.Cloud

Spring Day on Karl Johan Street

Spring

Also at Munch Museum

View over the Rover at St.Cloud

Landscape. Maridalen by Oslo

Old Aker Church

Aunt Karen in the Rocking Chair

Related Expressionism Works

Guernica

Reclining Nude (Le Grand Nu)

Woman with Dead Child

The Yellow Cow

The Tower of Blue Horses

The Large Blue Horses

Composition VIII

Nu Couché

About Madonna

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