Signed lower right.
Munch created four paintings of this motif between 1893 and 1894. Adolf Paul, a friend of the artist, was present at the creation of the first painting: He had come to visit his friend in the studio, where a model was sitting for the artist with flaming red hair falling over her shoulders "like coagulated blood". "Kneel down in front of her", the artist instructed his friend, who obeyed. "She bent over me and pressed her lips to my neck", Adolf Paul remembered, "her red hair flowed over me. Munch called the painting "Love and Pain". But his friends interpreted it as a depiction of a vampire and the artist adopted the title. Some time later, he created the graphic work, which he printed in many variations.
