Harald J. Hansen, Oslo (acquired from the artist in Spring 1943)

Kaare Berntsen, Oslo (by descent from the above and sold: Sotheby's, London, December 6, 1978, lot 267)

Private Collection (acquired at the above sale)

Acquired from the above by the present owner in 2008

Gerd Woll, Edvard Munch, Catalogue raisonné, vol. IV 1921-1944, Oslo, 2008, vol. IV, no. 1522, illustrated p. 1392

In 1924 Munch was approached by Birgit Prestøe at Ekely, and painted her in Seated Model on the Couch (G. Woll, op. cit., no. 1500), now in the Munch-museet. This is believed to be the first work in which Munch painted Birgit, who would become his most frequently used model until 1931, and whom he painted in a variety of settings, both clothed and in the nude. While the woman in the present portrait has not been identified, her hair and facial features correspond to many depictions of Birgit.

Portraying a bust of a female nude, the present work is executed in a soft palette that emphasizes the intimate character of the composition. While the woman’s nude torso is painted in close up and her physical presence is very strong, her head is timidly bowed down and her eyes shut, as if to place herself outside of the painter’s and viewer’ღs reach. The background is loosely painted, with only a faint suggestion of an interior setting. The woman’s shadow, visible to the left of the composition, adds a symbolic note characteristic of a number of Munch’s portraits and self-portraits.

The first owner of Nude with Bowed Head was the Oslo-based collector Harald J. Hansen, who acquired it directly from Munch in 1943, a year before the artist’s death. The wo♔rk remained in his family possession until 1978 when it was sold at auction.