| Ibsen
never sat for this portrait, which most likely reflects a last chance
encounter between the two artists at Grand Hotel in Kristiania (Oslo).
Following a disagreement between Munch and a waiter, in which Ibsen
took the latter's side, the deeply offended Munch allegedly said:
"Well, Ibsen, we will not be seeing each other again", and
they never did. Shortly after Ibsen became ill and disappeared from
the city scene. Munch painted several portraits of Ibsen, the first on the playbill for John Gabriel Borkman at the Théâtre de l'Oeuvre (cat. 5) in Paris, 1896. This portrait was the starting point for the painting of Ibsen at the Grand Café. The background consists of a gloomy, rainy day visible through the window. The faded atmosphere is even more tangible in the lithograph from 1902 (cat. 7). In 1908 Munch painted a new version of "Henrik Ibsen at the Grand Cafe´", where the ageing writer relaxes with a newspaper in the smoke-filled atmosphere of the reading room (cat. 3). |
