Shore with Red House

In the painting “Shore with Red House” from 1904 Munch once again repeats the beach
motif from Åsgårdstrand, that played an important part in the picture series “Frieze of
Life” from the 1890’s.
Munch has himself said that “walking through Aasgaardstrand is like strolling through
my pictures – I really feel like painting when I’m in Aasgaardstrand…”. Munch leased a
summer house here during the summers of 1889 and 1890, before getting his very own in
1897.
The landscapes Munch painted in the 20th century, show that the images of humans had
given way to nature’s own monumental serenity.
The beach with its rock formations in different sizes and colors covers most of the picture
surface. The rocky landscape is virtually given a character of an abstract surface pattern.
Depth and space are created by the surrounding landscape, the sea, the red house, the
jetty to the left and the horizon where sea meets sky.
The coloring is relatively light and warm, with fragile tints of red and blue/grey
dominating the beach area, whereas the other areas are pictured in more heavy coloring.
The same colours reappears on the picture surface, which adds an harmonic whole to the
picture. We can see the red/brown colors of the house reappear by the jetty and the rock
formations on the beach. In a similar way, the beach, sky and sea are united by blue/grey
and pink tints.
By the red house we can see lavish green vegetation. A small yellow area in the midst of
the green intensifies the colors in the foreground.