Rops' illustration ,
Le Plus Bel Amour De Don Juan, 1882. Whenever he was questioned on the subject, Munch maintained he had not been influenced by the work of the Belgium artist and illustrator
Félicien Rops, specifically the etching
Le Plus Bel Amour De Don Juan [''Don Juan's Greatest Love''], which was published as an illustration in the second edition of
Jules Amédée Barbey d’Aurevilly's book
Les Diaboliques in 1882 (based on an earlier 1879 pencil drawing).) However, art critics and historians have consistently noted the similarities; beginning with Przybyszewski (1894) the first publication devoted to Munch. Munch himself claimed that his 1894–95 painting was a copy of an earlier painting he first made in 1885 or 1886 [Although Eggum was in error; the 2nd ed. of
Les Diaboliques with
Rops etching, was published in 1882, not 1886].
Sexual depression In the late 1880s and into the mid-1890s, Munch, in his mid-twenties, had begun to create his series of
Puberty pieces. At this time Munch had already established himself as a notable artist in
Berlin. During this period of his life Munch often found residence in Berlin, where his newfound fame and circle of friends were. His new group of friends are attributed for helping push Munch further into his sexually depressed state of mind. Munch – like the female portrayed in
Puberty – feared sex due to the loss of his virginity to his cousin's wife. Munch allowed this sexual depression to seep into
Puberty and like other later works this piece was created with
symbolism reflecting feelings which continued growing increasingly within the next ten years. This state of sexual depression is one that not only his circle of friends shared with him, but that the psychological scholars had also been curious about having just written the first research on the stages and occurrences of
puberty in young adults. ==Subject and title==