Edvard Munch: Starry Night, 1893 – Porcelain Art Mug

In the summer of 1893 Edvard Munch was painting at Åsgårdstrand, the small beach resort south of Oslo where he spent his summers from the 1880s onward. Starry Night is that coastline after dark. An abstract mound at the right is a clump of trees; a white fence runs diagonally in front of it; the shoreline is drawn with a single undulating line that continues into the branches. Stars reflect in the water, and a flash of light shines in the trees.

The picture was painted in the same year as the first version of The Scream, and it shows the other half of the same ambition. Munch was after the emotion the night calls up rather than its picturesque qualities, and the blue carries it. The vaguely defined shape on the fence may be the shadow of two lovers — a motif that recurs throughout his work. Some passages are laid on thickly, others left almost bare so that the lighter parts of the sky come through the weave.

Fine Porcelain — 10 oz. Dishwasher and microwave safe.

Edvard Munch, Starry Night, 1893, oil on canvas. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 84.PA.681. Open-access image released by the museum under CC0.

Selected by Dr. Walther Fuchs for the Tazzarte collection.