Instead, he preferred the Venetian practice of working in oils directly from the subject - half-length figures and still life.
Munch painted several versions of the composition, showing a bare-breasted half-length female figure, between 1892 and 1895, using oils on canvas.
Also notable are his many carefully rendered drawings of half-length figures or groups of heads.
Two half-length figures, who are seemingly in meditation, comprise "Sisters II."
At the top of the composition is a half-length figure of Christ holding a scroll on which are inscribed the Commandments.
The depiction was often very "close-up", with a half-length figure occupying nearly the whole picture space.
Twelve other half-length figures of Saints, beginning with St. Peter.
Below them is displayed a trefoiled arch with the half-length figure of the Prior in prayer.
Also on view are half-length figures posed as if at stable doors.
He usually grouped these half-length figures closely together and cropped the scene so that the viewer focused their attention solely on the figures.