Edvard Munch’s (1863-1944) Die Söhne des Dr. Max Linde is apparently one of the landmark family portrait paintings of the twentieth century, or at least that’s what it says online and so it must be true. Painted in 1903, it shows the four sons of Dr Max Linde (1862-1940), a Lübeck eye doctor, collector and important early German supporter of Munch. The boys are not presented as neat little decorative cherubs, but they have individual personalities, varying levels of patience and the faint air of children who have been told to stand still by adults who are not fully in control of the situation.
The museum’s own account notes that Linde first encountered Munch’s work in 1902 and went on to commission portraits of his family, views of his house, garden and collection, as well as what became known as the Linde portfolio. Its presence in the Museum Behnhaus Drägerhaus is appropriate given that Munch was repeatedly active in Lübeck between 1902 and 1907, largely because of his relationship with Linde, and this work is one of the great results of that connection.
In terms of the children, Hermann leans in from the left, Lothar seems barely able to keep still, Theodor occupies the right-hand side with considerable confidence and Helmuth in the centre who looks straight out. I wonder what the children thought of it, it does show a sense of mischief between the two of them, I rather suspect that they liked it.