The Fairytale Forest

In the years 1901 to 1904, Munch painted several pictures featuring children and adolescents, one of which was Enchanted Forest. Munch's interest in children finds expression in group portraits, depictions of children at play, and in more independent figure compositions. Most of these pictures were produced during the artist's summer sojourns at Åsgårdstrand. In Enchanted Forest, the childhood theme is underscored by the difference in size between the figures and the landscape, and by the fact that the children are holding hands. They stand hesitantly on a track that curves in towards the outer edge of a dark, looming forest. The children are on the threshold of something that seems both alluring and alarming.

Munch painted two other pictures with a similar design, *Barn i skogen *(Children in the Forest) (1901-1902, Woll M 492) and To barn på vei til eventyrskogen (Two Children on Their Way to the Enchanted Forest) (1901-1902, Woll M 494). In the latter, the section of landscape and the track leading into the forest resemble those of Enchanted Forest, but there are only two children. In Barn i skogen, the children are seen from a greater distance and appear small against the trees and the dense, dark forest. Enchanted Forest combines elements from these two pictures but differs in its use of colours that are paler and less saturated. *Enchanted Forest *is executed with a diluted binder so that much of the paint has been absorbed by the canvas. This creates an effect of transparency and dryness reminiscent of fresco painting.

The date of the painting has been a matter of debate, varying from 1897 to 1903. When it entered the museum's collection as a bequest from the wholesaler Alfred Larsen in 1951, its date was recorded as "ca. 1903". Since then, it has been established with reasonable certainty that the picture was exhibited at Blomqvist in the autumn of 1902. The painting can be associated with the Blomqvist exhibition based on the following humourous account in the satirical magazine Tyrihans * (no. 42, 1902): "We stopped in front of 'Children Going to the Woods'. 'Superb!' says Hansen. 'Look at the fresh yellow forest and the colourful joy of the children!'" (Woll 2008 B. 2, 536). Moreover, it is known that when the Munch Museum's Barn i skogen (Woll M 492) was shown at the Sonderbund exhibition in 1912, it was dated to 1901. And finally, either that or Enchanted Forest *was exhibited in Paris in February 1903, further suggesting a dating of 1902 or earlier (Woll 2008, 534).

Vibeke Waallann Hansen The text was first published in Edvard Munch in the National Museum. A comprehensive overview (Oslo: National Museum, 2022).

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