Melancholy

Edvard Munch

Oil on canvas

National Gallery of Norway

This evocative painting depicts a brooding man in the foreground resting his head on his hand while gazing away from a distant couple on a jetty at Åsgårdstrand beach in Norway. Painted in Munch's distinctive Symbolist style, the work uses broad brushstrokes, undulating lines, and muted blue-violet tones to express profound sadness and jealousy. Edvard Munch (1863-1944), the Norwegian master best known for The Scream, created multiple versions of this composition to capture his friend Jappe Nilssen's anguish over an unhappy love affair—transforming personal heartbreak into a universal meditation on loneliness and longing.