Why it matters
The working girls of a brothel have just finished decorating a Christmas tree in this 'light yet melancholy' painting, supposedly inspired by Munch's visit to a brothel in Lübeck. It has been read as a commentary on his patron Max Linde's upper-class household.
Did you know?
- It was completed in 1903–1904.
- A portrait commission in Hamburg had just fallen through.
- Munch was then trying to manage his anxieties with alcohol.
Based on the Wikipedia article Christmas in the Brothel (CC BY-SA 4.0).
