Autograph-Inscribed Photograph of the Artist’s House at Åsgårdstrand, circa 1925–1935.
“My house in Åsgårdstrand from which I came then – much was painted and much was experienced here.” --Edvard Munch
A RARE AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL OBJECT LINKING EDVARD MUNCH'S HAND, HOME, AND ART.
The Inscription
“Mein Haus in Aasgaardstrand wovon ich kam damals – hier ist viel gemalt und viel erlebt.”
(“My house in Åsgårdstrand from which I came then – much was painted and much was experienced here.”)
The Photograph
The photograph depicts Munch’s house at Åsgårdstrand, the modest coastal cottage on the Oslofjord that he purchased in 1898 as his first permanent property and today the only intact surviving home of the artist. Few places are more closely identified with the artist’s life and work: the surrounding landscape informed many of his most celebrated paintings, including Melancholy, The Voice, Ashes, and The Girls on the Pier.
What distinguishes the present photograph is Munch’s handwritten inscription. Rather than simply identifying the house, he reflects upon it as a place where artistic creation and lived experience were linked. The photograph thus becomes more than a depiction of a building; it is an autobiographical reflection on the landscape that shaped his artistic imagination.
The house at Åsgårdstrand survives today largely as Munch left it. He first visited the town in 1885 and returned every summer thereafter, buying the property in 1898; it has been preserved as a museum since 1947, the only one of his homes still standing. The surrounding landscape recurs throughout his work from these years, appearing in paintings of solitude, love, childhood, and the shoreline itself.
Provenance
The provenance substantially enhances the significance of the photograph. The recipient Gustav Schiefler was not merely a collector but one of Munch’s closest scholarly collaborators and most influential early advocates; his catalogues of Munch’s graphic work remained the standard reference for generations and helped secure the artist’s international reputation beyond Norway. The photograph descended through the Schiefler family to his daughter Ottilie before entering the collection of Gerhard Schaack.
The verso preserves successive ownership annotations identifying the photograph as Munch’s house at Åsgårdstrand and recording its descent, together with Schaack’s collector’s stamp.
Vintage silver gelatin contact print on Agfa Lupex postcard stock, approximately 9 × 14 cm. Crease in extreme top right corner margin; essentially fine condition.
Price: $16,000 .