FREITAG, 13. MÄRZ 2026 
This Week in La Gazette Drouot : Edvard Munch's Anxiety, a Lithograph that Heightens Human Emotions
A nxiety is one of Edvard Munch's lithographic masterpieces, but is also an emblematic work of the 1890s, which saw the painter shift from Symbolism to Expressionism, developing his most essential themes.
By Caroline Legrand
Edvard Munch took up lithography in the early 1890s, during stays in Berlin and Paris. In 1896, he took his lithography further in the French capital with the aid of Auguste Clot (1858-1936). The Norwegian painter worked with the printer on several lithographs, including Anxiety, printed in an edition of one hundred copies - in addition to a few test prints - which appear in Ambroise Vollard's first Album des peintres-graveurs.
It is a mirror image of a painting produced two years earlier, Anxiety (Munch Museum, Oslo), with the pointy-bearded man in the foreground replaced by three women but without the railing. Munch concentrated on two tones, black and red, condensing Symbolist effects. Red is more than ever an emotional color, evoking the tumult of nature, which contrasts with the hieratic nature of the human beings, who appear to be taking part in a funeral procession. Dramatic tension is at its height.
Read the full version of "Edvard Munch's Anxiety, a Lithograph that Heightens Human Emotions" in La Gazette Drouot
Edvard Munch took up lithography in the early 1890s, during stays in Berlin and Paris. In 1896, he took his lithography further in the French capital with the aid of Auguste Clot (1858-1936). The Norwegian painter worked with the printer on several lithographs, including Anxiety, printed in an edition of one hundred copies - in addition to a few test prints - which appear in Ambroise Vollard's first Album des peintres-graveurs.
It is a mirror image of a painting produced two years earlier, Anxiety (Munch Museum, Oslo), with the pointy-bearded man in the foreground replaced by three women but without the railing. Munch concentrated on two tones, black and red, condensing Symbolist effects. Red is more than ever an emotional color, evoking the tumult of nature, which contrasts with the hieratic nature of the human beings, who appear to be taking part in a funeral procession. Dramatic tension is at its height.
Discover a world of art and auctions with La Gazette Drouot
Every week, since 1891, La Gazette Drouot has been the authoritative weekly for public auctions of furniture, paintings and objets d'art. Our issues published contain thousands of articles which explain, decipher and analyse objects as well as their market, while others give leading figures a forum for sharing their passion. And not forgetting the cultural news, enlightened by in-depth articles on diverse subjects, often published for the first time.
You too can enjoy this wealth of information and images by picking up La Gazette Drouot.
You too can enjoy this wealth of information and images by picking up La Gazette Drouot.
