Metabolism

Metabolism, from 1899, can be seen as a paraphrase of the Adam and Eve motif and has clear parallels to the composition Eye in Eye.

The theme is less related to the soul of modern man than the other motifs in the Frieze of Life series, but Munch regarded the motif as an important part of the Frieze.

Munch:
Metabolism is just as important for the Frieze as a buckle is for a belt. It is a picture of the powerful, upholding forces in life.

At some point the picture underwent a major revision. Instead of the tree between the woman and the man there was originally a luxuriant plant or bush sheltering an unborn child. The changes were probably made between 1915 and 1918.

The rather special picture frame with carvings at the top and bottom was part of the painting until it was removed before an exhibition in 1927, and replaced with a simple wooden frame. This frame was used until the 1970s, when the picture was remounted in its original frame.

Metabolism in the form we see it today depicts two people standing on either side of a tree. In the upper part of the painting we see the silhouette of a city, and in the lower part, two skulls – the one a human skull and the other that of an animal.

Before it was painted over, the tree-trunk extended down to the bottom frame and the roots which gained nourishment from the dead. In short it was a motif about the circle of life. Life and death are here linked together in an inseparable union.

If we look closely we can see in the middle of the tree-trunk the embryo, with its large head and narrow shoulders, which has been painted over. The figure reminds one of Adonis, the Greek god of fertility, who was born out of the trunk of a tree.