Self-portrait on the Operating Table by Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch was, for a period, engaged to marry the daughter of a wine merchant named Tulla Larsen. One day, in September of 1902, Edvard was without any money and uncertain on how to get dinner for Tulla and himself. Tulla, coming from a family of means, gave Edvard 100 kroner, and told him to buy dinner for the two of them. When Edvard came back with nothing but Cognac, one of the pairs many arguments began. The fight ended with a revolver going off in the hand of Edvard, leaving his finger mutilated, and in need of amputation. At the operating table, Edvard refused anesthesia, so that he could paint the whole ordeal at a later time.