Four Studies (Portrait of Goldstein, Gorilla, Family of Monkeys and Tiger's Head)

Four Studies (Portrait of Goldstein, Gorilla, Family of Monkeys and Tiger's Head) is a significant lithograph created by Edvard Munch in 1908, a crucial year marking a turning point in the Norwegian artist’s career. Classified as a print, this complex work reflects Munch’s renewed focus on formal experimentation and his recovery following a severe psychological crisis that necessitated his hospitalization in Copenhagen.

The composite composition arranges four highly disparate subjects onto a single sheet of paper. The central element is the intimate portrait of Dr. Daniel Jacobson Goldstein, Munch’s attending physician at the clinic, which serves as a powerful record of his time spent focusing on recovery. Contrasting sharply with the static, formal portraiture, Munch included three expressive studies of animals drawn from life or observation: a gorilla, a family of monkeys, and a tiger's head. The juxtaposition of the healer’s portrait with the raw vitality of the zoo animals suggests a commentary on human psychology, instinct, and the forces of nature that preoccupied the artist during the 1908-09 period.

Executed as a lithograph, the medium demonstrates Munch’s technical versatility. He utilizes the stone's surface for both delicate shading, seen in the rendering of Goldstein’s face, and vigorous, dark mark-making required to convey the textures of the animals’ fur and the powerful musculature suggested in the gorilla study. These animal studies, captured with spontaneous energy, highlight a dynamic interplay between controlled observation and expressionistic spontaneity characteristic of the later works by the master printmaker.

Munch’s extensive production of prints, especially lithographs, were central to disseminating his expressionist vision throughout Europe. This particular arrangement of images highlights his ongoing fascination with both institutional portraiture and the primal animal world, which often served as metaphors for raw human emotion. Today, this important example of Norwegian printmaking resides within the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art.