Edvard Munch painted his friend and mentor Hans Jæger, a writer, anarchist and rebel. He sits back on a sofa, looking at us with a piercing gaze through his glasses. His hat and coat make him seem distant and cool. The light from the left creates shadows and colors of red-violet, brown and blue-green. The brushstrokes are bold and casual, like the man on the sofa.
Hans Jæger was a leader of the Christiania Bohemians, a group of young artists and thinkers who challenged the norms of society. Munch was part of this group in the 1880s. They believed in writing their lives. Jæger’s book From Christiania’s Bohemia (1885) was banned and he was jailed for its scandalous scenes.
Munch admired Jæger as a person and an idealist, even after he left the Bohemian circle. He kept the painting for many years and showed it in many exhibitions. In 1897 he sold it to the National Gallery, where Jæger joined the ranks of national literary heroes like Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson.
