Edvard Munch's Madonna

Madonna is the popular title given to a composition by the Norwegian expressionist painter Edvard Munch. Munch painted several versions of the composition, showing a bare-breasted half-length female figure, between 1892 and 1895, using oils on canvas. He also produced versions in print form. Werner Hofmann suggests that the painting is a "strange devotional picture glorifying decadent love. The cult of the strong woman who reduces man to subjection gives the figure of woman monumental proportions, but it also makes a demon of her." The main subject of the painting is a nude woman with red hallow on her head. Her eyes are closed and her hands follow the flow of outer background lines. The female figure in the center of the painting pictorially