Munch's theme here is woman's love-dance through life. A flower is growing
beside the young woman in white. Round-cheeked, healthy and beautiful,
she moves forward, her arms parted. The woman in black, to the right,
stands still as a statue, her hands clasped in front of her and a withered,
rather grim look on her face. In the centre of the picture dances the
loving couple, absorbed in one another. The woman's red dress enfurls
him, and their bodies combine in one undulating form. Other couples are
depicted in ecstatic dance, and lust is most evident in the face of the
man to the right. Balancing on the border between naturalistic representation
and symbolism, this work is typical of its time. The ambiguity of the
theme gives rise to associations with both liberated modern life and primitive
rites of the seasons. But in this painting Munch is first and foremost
treating a subject which recurs frequently in his art - the three stages
of womanhood: youth and innocence; love and passion; and, finally, the
inexorable coming of old age. From the stylistic point of view, both colour
and form have been further simplified here than in Ashes. This evolution
is often considered to be related to Munch's work with lithography and
woodcuts in the second half of the 1890s.
December 24, 2000