plate no. 6943

Red House and Spruces

Edvard Munch, 1927

oil, canvasExpressionismlandscapetreessnowhouselandscapewinter

recreation guide

Edvard Munch’s 'Red House and Spruces' (1927) is a late-career landscape that reflects his lifelong fixation on nature as a vehicle for emotional expression. While Munch is often associated with psychological portraiture, over half of his painted works are landscapes, frequently featuring shorelines and forests that serve as significant settings for his motifs (Source 4). This work belongs to his later period, characterized by a return to painting after a mental breakdown in 1908, during which he worked in peace and privacy, often inspired by the natural surroundings of his summer home in Åsgårdstrand (Source 3, Source 4). The painting likely employs the expressive use of color he developed in Paris under the influence of Gauguin and Van Gogh, focusing on the 'soul painting' concept where the external world is filtered through internal emotional states (Source 3).

estimated time

20-30 hours over 5-7 sessions (allowing for drying times between glaze layers)

materials

5 items

steps

7 in sequence

materials

item	purpose	modern equivalent
Oil paints (Ultramarine, White, Black, Red Ochre/Venetian Red, Yellow Ochre)	For creating the grisaille underpainting and subsequent glazes	—
Linseed oil or Oil of Copavia	Medium for thinning paints and creating transparent glazes	Stand oil or refined linseed oil
Turpentine	Thinner for initial washes and cleaning	Odorless mineral spirits
Canvas	Support for the oil painting	Primed linen or cotton canvas
Varnish	For final glazing layers to increase transparency and depth	Dammar varnish or synthetic resin varnish

preparation

surface prep

Prepare a standard oil-primed canvas. Munch’s later works often utilized a smoother surface to allow for the luminous quality of glazes, though specific priming recipes for this exact 1927 work are not detailed in the sources. A neutral ground is recommended to facilitate the glazing process described in traditional oil painting practices.

underdrawing

Munch’s preparatory methods for this specific landscape are not explicitly detailed in the provided sources. However, given his background in graphic arts (woodcuts and lithographs), he likely employed a loose, expressive underdrawing to establish the composition of the house and trees before applying paint. No specific evidence suggests a rigid, detailed sketch was left visible.

underpainting

Create a monochrome grisaille underpainting using black, ultramarine, and white. This step involves mentally extracting red and yellow tones to establish the value structure of the landscape. This technique is supported by traditional oil painting practices where a grisaille base allows for subsequent color application through glazing (Source 1).

color palette

Ultramarine

Pure pigment

Underpainting shadows and sky tones

White

Lead white or Titanium white

Underpainting highlights and mixing tints

Black

Ivory black or Lamp black

Underpainting deep shadows

Red Ochre/Venetian Red

Earth pigment

Glazing the house and warm earth tones

Yellow Ochre

Earth pigment

Glazing highlights and foliage warmth

Green (mixed)

Blue and Yellow glazes

Spruces and foliage, utilizing complementary contrast

composition

The composition likely features the shoreline and forest elements that are recurrent motifs in Munch’s work (Source 4). While specific placement of the 'Red House' is not described in the text, Munch’s landscapes often arrange natural elements into a coherent composition that conveys atmosphere and emotion rather than strict topographical accuracy (Source 5). The contrast between the built structure and the natural spruces would be emphasized through color harmony and simultaneous contrast principles.

step by step

underdrawing→underpainting→first pass→refining→finishing→varnishing

underdrawing

step 01
Sketch the basic forms of the house and spruces loosely with thinned oil or charcoal.
Tip — Keep lines minimal to avoid interfering with the glaze layers.
Loose underdrawing

underpainting

step 02
Apply a grisaille underpainting using black, ultramarine, and white. Establish the light and shadow structure of the landscape, mentally excluding red and yellow tones.
Tip — Ensure this layer is completely dry before proceeding to avoid muddying the glazes.
Grisaille

first pass

step 03
Begin glazing with transparent coats of red and yellow tones over the dry grisaille. Use oil as a medium initially.
Tip — Apply thin, transparent layers to build up color intensity without obscuring the value structure.
Glazing

refining

step 04
Use scumbling (semi-opaque painting) to adjust tones, particularly over darker grounds to create coldness or grey blooms if needed.
Tip — Observe how the underlying painting shows through the semi-opaque layer.
Scumbling
step 05
Apply mixed contrast principles by placing complementary colors (e.g., red house against green spruces) to enhance visual tension and depth.
Tip — Be aware that the eye may perceive colors differently due to the influence of adjacent hues.
Simultaneous Contrast

finishing

step 06
Add final glazes using a mixture of varnish and oil to deepen colors and unify the composition, similar to tinting an engraving.
Tip — Ensure each layer is dry to prevent cracking or lifting.
Varnish Glazing

varnishing

step 07
Allow the painting to cure fully before applying a final protective varnish if desired.
Tip — Wait several months for oil paints to fully oxidize.
Final Varnishing

critical techniques

Glazing

Applying transparent coats of color over a dry underpainting to build luminosity and depth. This method was practiced by old masters and is recommended for achieving rich color effects (Source 1).

Scumbling

Using semi-opaque paint over a darker ground to create coldness or grey blooms, allowing the underlying layer to show through (Source 1).

Simultaneous Contrast

Placing complementary colors next to each other to enhance their intensity and create visual tension, acknowledging that the eye perceives colors in relation to their surroundings (Source 2).

common pitfalls

→Applying glazes before the underpainting is completely dry, which can lead to muddied colors and technical failure (Source 1).
→Ignoring the effects of simultaneous contrast, leading to inaccurate color perception and lack of vibrancy in the final piece (Source 2).
→Overworking the paint with opaque layers instead of building up color through transparent glazes, which diminishes the luminous quality characteristic of this technique (Source 1).
→Failing to account for the drying time of oil paints, which can cause cracking if subsequent layers are applied too soon (Source 7).

what the sources don't tell us

Where the corpus is silent, we say so rather than guess. These are the gaps a complete recreation guide would normally cover that our source passages don't.

·Specific pigment recipes used by Munch in 1927 are not provided; the guide relies on general oil painting practices.
·The exact compositional layout of 'Red House and Spruces' is not described in the sources, so the artist must rely on reference images or imagination for the specific arrangement of the house and trees.
·Munch’s specific brushwork style for this particular landscape is not detailed, though his general expressive style is noted.
·The role of varnish in Munch’s specific workflow for this piece is inferred from general practices rather than explicit documentation.

grounded in

The technical procedure in this guide traces to the following classical art-instruction texts.

The Practice of Oil Painting↗
- COLOURING A MONOCHROME — applied to Underpainting, glazing, and scumbling techniques
Laws of Contrast of Colour↗
- Simultaneous Contrast — applied to Color placement and contrast effects

cross-referenced from

Named facts about this artwork and artist were checked against these reference pages.

Wikipedia bio — Edvard Munch↗
- Part 1 & Part 10 — applied to Artist context, emotional landscape focus, and nature motifs
Wikipedia: Oil painting↗
- Part 1 — applied to General oil painting materials and drying properties
Wikipedia: Landscape painting↗
- Part 1 — applied to Understanding landscape composition and genre conventions