The Dance of Life

This picture appears to be a more complex and personalized version of Woman in Three Stages (1895), with an innocent woman in white on the left, a sensual woman dancing with the man, and an anguished woman in black on the right. All three resemble Tulla Larsen; the girls dancing in the background may also represent her. The man in the foreground appears to be Munch. The dramatic romantic involvement with the Norwegian woman, Tulla Larsen, caused Munch to seek to restore his nervous and physical strength in the sanatorium of Kornhaug in Gudbrandsdalen in 1899-1900.