Jealousy

Edvard Munch was obsessed with the subject of love and relationships between men and women. Today's painting entitled Jealousy is regarded as belonging to a series of pictures Munch painted in the north German seaside town of Warnemünde in 1907. It is known as The Green Room, because of the green walls of the interiors of those paintings. In this series Munch shows the other side of love. As you can imagine, the negative one.

Returning to previously painted motifs was typical for Munch. In Jealousy Munch returns to a motif he had developed in the 1890s, inspired by love and jealousy dramas in the circle of artists and intellectuals in Berlin.

Even if the painting didn't have its title we would be able to understand what's going on in a second. The woman is between the two men, one of whom looks at us with staring eyes whilst the other stands with eyes downcast.
Clothed in a white dress with a dark belt around the waist, her hair flowing out and with her arms held over her head, the woman shows herself to the men. Her face is a glowing red.

Behind the three we can make out a green wall with reddish-blue stains. The colour green, which we often associate with jealousy, is reflected in the face of the man on the left. Green is also the complementary colour to red, the colour of love.