Comment:
This is a highly developed drawing on a relatively large sheet of paper. The personality, which in regular portraits is evoked in the facial features – the eyes in particular – is expressed here primarily via the body and its posture. The relaxed stance with most of the weight on one leg, lightly supported by the wall, and not least the posturing gesture of the left hand on the hip, evokes the image of a self-possessed man enjoying his pipe in the bright sunlight of a Sunday (he is wearing his finest clothes and the shadow from his hat fall across his face). The drawing style is loose and assured, and Munch concentrates on important areas and allows others to remain untouched. The background is barely suggested with simple crosshatching, which is not intended to describe anything but rather accentuate the person in the foreground.