# The Girl by the Window

**Edvard Munch** (Norwegian, 1863–1944)  
1893  
Oil on canvas  
96.5 × 65.4 cm (38 × 25 3/4 in.); Framed: 110.5 × 79.4 × 8.9 cm (43 1/2 × 31 1/4 × 3 1/2 in.)

Courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2000.50. [The museum's record](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/154235).

## About this work

Edvard Munch’s life and art have come to epitomize modern notions of anxiety. Created the same year as his renowned The Scream , this painting depicts a young girl in her nightgown gazing out at the city from her darkened room. The steep angle of the floor and the deep shadows that obliterate almost everything in the room create an unsettling and enigmatic scene.

_Text from the Art Institute of Chicago._

Edvard Munch painted this in 1893, aged 30. It is now at the Art Institute of Chicago.

### What you’re looking at

Loosely painted scene of a brown-haired girl in her nightgown standing in a dark room, gazing out a window into a brighter night, her face unseen and her hand drawing back the pale curtain. Light blues and pink whites dominate the girl and the window, while deep browns, blues, and greens color the darkened portions of her room.

_Description from the Art Institute of Chicago._

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Edvard Munch](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/edvard-munch)

Norwegian, 1863–1944

Munch trained in Kristiania, now Oslo, and spent long periods in Paris and Berlin in the 1890s, where he developed The Frieze of Life, a cycle on love, anxiety and death that includes The Scream. His painting drew on personal loss, including the early deaths of his mother and sister. He also made woodcuts and lithographs of great originality, sawing his blocks into pieces to ink them separately. After a breakdown in 1908 he returned to Norway, where he lived and worked until his death.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- Culture: Norway
- The artist was 30
- Real size: about 38 × 26 in (96 × 65 cm). The 24 × 36 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Subjects: interiors, window, night, light, girl, domestic, curtains, blue (color)
- Colour: black
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/338.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/338/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108; 30 × 40 in $148
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258; 30 × 40 in $338
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148; 24 × 36 in $178; 30 × 40 in $228
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5; 30 × 40 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/the-girl-by-the-window-aic-154235).