Women Turned towards the Sun

Munch had a clear idea of how the side panels in the university's ceremonial hall in Oslo should behave. The big main paintings, he wrote, should feel heavy and imposing, like bouquets in the room, while the others should be lighter and paler, a gentler transition to the style of the hall and a frame around them. This tall, narrow canvas, painted in 1914, is one of those frames. It hangs on the wall to the left of the stage, flanking The Sun, with its partner, Men Turned towards the Sun, on the other side. Female figures, one seated and one standing, stretch toward the light, laid down in bold, open brushstrokes. Between 2009 and 2011 the hall's paintings came down for cleaning, and when they returned, this panel and its partner were the first to be lifted back in through a hidden hatch in the wall where The Sun normally hangs.