The Murderess

In the summer of 1907 Munch was staying at Warnemünde, a bathing resort on the German Baltic coast, and he painted seven canvases that all take place in one room. Three walls, a low ceiling, a dark floor, patterned wallpaper, green over almost everything. He called them Jealousy, Hatred, Desire, Zum süssen Mädel, Taken by Surprise, and this one, The Murderess. A woman stands at the front of the room facing out. Behind her a man lies along a sofa, with a table and a glass beside him. The canvas is upright and not quite 90 centimetres tall, which crowds the pair against the walls, and the set has been known ever since as the Green Room.