Jealousy, from the Series, The Green Room

Jealousy is one of the paintings from the series, The Green Room by Edvard Munch. This series included around eight paintings that were painted in the latter part of 1906 and 1907.

Other famous works included Desire Hatred, Consolation, Cupid and Psyche. All of the images depict phase of human love, anxiety and death. Edvard concentrated on the negative side of humanity and the way it paired with love. Jealousy depicts a group of three people, in what looks like some party. Two of them are gentlemen in dark suits, and the other is a lady in a full white dress. Both men have a strange greenish hue on their faces while the lady looks a little reddish. This painting is said to have been painted at the German seaside town of Warnemunde towards the start of 1907.

There are two versions to the image with the other one showing a man in the foreground while the second man stands with a lady who wears a red dress. However, critics have stated that the former one depicts jealousy better than the later image. The lady is the focus of the two men on the foreground. However, the man who stares at the reader does not look enthusiastic about the whole issue and seems not to want to look at the lady. This explains the blind stare devoid of the emotion.

The other gentleman stands with his eyes downcast rather than looking either the lady or the man on his left. He does not seem glad to have any of the two besides him. It can be explained that he thinks the other gentleman has won the woman and is jealous of him. Unfortunately, from the look of things, none of the men seems to have won the heart of the woman in the picture. On the other hand, the woman has her hands on her head, probably as a sign that she is available for a chat with any of the men. In an interesting twist, both men would love to chat with her, but each is jealous of the other. This is the point that image tries to send home. Jealousy blocks the mind from seeing an opportunity to love.

The painting on the canvas follows an expressionism artistic style. In this type of image, artists depict subjective responses and emotions that events and objects around the main character arouse in him or her. It is known for the use of vivid colours and bold strokes that serve to exaggerate the feelings and emotions. This type of painting has influences from Symbolism, Fauvism and Post-Impressionism types of painting. This version of the painting (The Green men) is privately held. The owner has loaned it to the Stadel Museum in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. They host a number of more traditional artworks such as The Blinding of Samson by Rembrandt van Rijn, The Geographer by Johannes Vermeer, Ecce Homo by Hieronymus Bosch and Lucca Madonna by Jan van Eyck.