Ingeborg Kaurin (later Ingeborg Onsager)

Munch’s explorations of death and tortured sexuality brought his paintings notoriety around 1900. By comparison, this frontal view of Ingeborg Onsager appears serene. The wife of a fellow Norwegian painter, Onsager modeled regularly for Munch—her round face and wide-set eyes are often recognizable in his prints and paintings. For all its composure, the picture still exhibits the intense color and bold brushwork that made Munch a hero for artists of the next generation. He likely painted it in 1912, the year when a major retrospective in Cologne introduced his work to such young German artists as Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, providing inspiration for the Expressionist movement.