Woman with Red Hair and Green Eyes. The Sin (Kvinne med rødt här og grønne øyne. Synden)

Woman with Red Hair and Green Eyes. The Sin (Kvinne med rødt här og grønne øyne. Synden) by Edvard Munch is a powerful lithograph created around c. 1902. As a major figure in Norwegian Symbolism and Expressionism, Munch consistently explored complex emotional narratives centered on themes of desire, anxiety, and mortality. This particular print exemplifies his genius for translating intense psychological states into the graphic, high-contrast language of the lithographic medium.

The composition features a close-up portrait of a woman, whose intense, wide-eyed gaze fixes directly upon the viewer. While the lithograph is fundamentally a black-and-white process, the title itself suggests the specific, symbolic color attributes assigned to the figure: red hair, often associated with passion and danger, and green eyes, frequently linked to seductive power or envy in late 19th-century visual culture. Munch uses heavy, simplified lines and deep fields of shadow, a technical approach that emphasizes the figure’s almost unsettling presence and psychological immediacy.

The work is firmly rooted in the fin-de-siècle fascination with the femme fatale archetype, where female sexuality is portrayed as both alluring and destructive—the source of "The Sin." Munch’s printmaking, especially his lithographs, allowed him to disseminate his challenging artistic vision beyond oil paintings. He utilized the starkness of the black lines against the white paper to heighten the feeling of isolation and tension inherent in the subject matter.

Munch refined the technical possibilities of printmaking to ensure maximum emotional impact. This piece, classified as a print, remains an iconic representation of the existential and psychological anxieties prevalent in early 20th-century Norwegian and European art. Its profound formal qualities and evocative subject matter underscore why these works continue to be widely studied. This specific impression of Woman with Red Hair and Green Eyes. The Sin is held within the esteemed collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York.