The Girls on the Bridge

The present etching of The Girls on the Bridge of 1903 is the earliest iteration of this subject in the print medium. Repetition and variation lies at the core of Edvard Munch's working practice, and the motif of girls or young women standing on bridge - the steamship jetty at Åsgårdstrand - became a recurring subject for several paintings and a few prints. The first painted version, of 1899, shows all three girls peering over the water (Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo). Two years later, in 1901, Munch created another painting, this time with the first figure turned towards the viewer (Kunsthalle Hamburg). It is this painting that the composition of the present etching resembles most closely. Several other painted variations on the theme were made over the years. In 1905, Munch made a small, extremely rare woodcut in an upright format (Woll 271), followed by two lithographic variations (Woll 416 & 629) and a large woodcut (Woll 628) between 1912 and 1918.
The Girls on the Bridge is an outstanding example of Munch's ability to turn a seemingly quotidian scene into a powerful emblem of longing, isolation and nostalgia.