Sábado cultural. Four girls on the bridge.

Detrás de un título tan simple, "Cuatro chicas en el puente. 1905", está uno de los autores referentes del XIX, Edvard Munch, ¿quién si no?.

Todo el mundo conoce a Munch, y todo todo el mundo conoce el grito, pero Munch tiene más obras, desde luego, aunque reconozco que hasta que no visité el museo Wallraf-Richartz de Colonia (Alemania) y vi este cuadro, no caí en la cuenta de ello. En ese momento entró en la caja de "mis obsesiones".
A veces lo miro y me parece como si hubieramos mezclado a Renoir y Munch, como si Sorolla le hubiera prestado su paleta, y este fuera el resultado... algo raro, diferente. Eso es precisamente lo que me llama de él, la irrealidad.

El Museo Wallraf-Richartz de la ciudad de Colonia es un gran museo, exterior e interiormente. A pesar de no ser "afamado" como los otros de que os hablé semanas atrás, es un museo extraordinariamente organizado con piezas tan increibles como esta, con dibujos de Da Vinci, Monets, Rembrants, Renoirs...De visita obligada.

Four Girls on the Bridge
1905, Oil on canvas, 126 x 126 cm
Acquired in 1949 as a gift from Cologne art-lovers
Inv. no. WRM 2816
Photo: Rheinisches Bildarchiv Köln

La descripción del Museo creo que lo dice todo, me gusta y no añadiría nada más, porque efectivamente "todo el conjunto crea una escena irreal" :

"The beholder of this picture may well be seized by a feeling of alienation and perhaps also fear, because it is unfathomable and talks in riddles. One could of course also describe it in quite friendly terms. What we have is a bridge, in the popular Norwegian resort of Aasgaardstrand on the Oslofjord. Four girls are standing by the balustrade, one wearing a bright and cheerful yellow straw hat. It is obviously summer, which in Norway is a short season, but one which the people enjoy all the more for that.

And yet it is difficult to work up a cheerful mood. The composition and palette simply will not allow it. The jetty, in defamiliarized pink, and painted with red and blue stripes, leads wedgelike and in steep perspective towards the shore. The trees come across as blackish-green flat shapes with solid outlines. The sky is turquoise, the wan moon hangs low above the horizon and in the still, deep water is reflected the dark-violet crown of the largest tree. Everything taken together creates the impression of an unreal, nightmarish scene. The girls are standing close together as if seeking protection in their very closeness. In fact it is only through the strong colours of their dresses that we can tell them apart.

Munch confronted this motif over many years and painted it in a number of versions. While the composition is based on the topographical location of his country cottage, the strong colours, sketchy forms and the puzzling nature of the figures make the picture look less like a representation of the external world than a depiction of psychological states and processes. His art was always determined by his interest in giving visible form to emotional states and borderline human situations, an interest which is also apparent in his numerous portraits."

Efectivamente Munch pintó muchos años y en numerosas versiones este motivo, de pesadilla, irreal, melancólico...¿Conociaís este cuadro?