Norwegian Painter Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch was a Norwegian painter and printmaker whose intensely evocative treatment of psychological themes built upon some of the main tenets of late 19th-century Symbolism and greatly influenced German Expressionism in the early 20th century. One of his most well-known works is The Scream of 1893. Edvard Munch was born on December 12, 1863, in Loten, Norway, Edvard was the second of five kids. His dad was a doctor, and a really pious man, whose extreme religious views left a lasting, obsessive impression on him throughout his whole life. His family moved to Oslo the year after he was born, because his dad had gotten a job in the area.

In 1877, his oldest sister died from tuberculosis, too. This was the only sibling he was close to, and it upset him that his two favorite people in his world were gone. He became slightly paranoid, thinking that death was following him everywhere. He had nightmares about this, and his art reflects them later on.

In 1886, he held an exhibition in his home town of Oslo, with his new pieces he had been working on. The town people revolted. They said the paintings were too violent, too macabre to be put on display. One of the ones he showed at the time was The Sick Child, finished right before the show. It portrayed his sister on her deathbed, and he and his mom around the bed. The colors were all dark and dreary to set the mood, and it was painted with long, quick brush strokes, which makes the painting seem more violent than it is.

Three years later, he traveled to Paris. Edvard went to all the impressionism and post-impressionism shows to try to gain some new techniques and ideas. He disliked Monet, thought Van Gogh was alright, and absolutely loved Paul Gauguin’s work. Edvard said it was “reaction against realism” and that “art was human work and not an imitation of nature in Gauguin’s paintings.” Gauguin would take humans, and instead of painting every detail, he would simplify them, and Munch was very impressed with that.

In 1892, the Union of Berlin Artists invited Munch to its November exhibition. Munch went, but the show closed after one week, because his paintings had caused so much disruption among the critics. Munch said afterwards, “Never had I had such an amusing time-it’s incredible that something so innocent as painting could have created such a stir.”

The next year, Edvard painted The Scream, his most famous painting.

In 1899, he began to have an intimate relationship with a woman named Tulla Larsen. She was an upper class lady, who was several years older than him. They traveled to Rome together, and she expected Edvard to propose to her. He never did, and when they returned home to Germany, she proposed to him. He gave in under pressure, but then ran away to Paris. Tulla followed him there, but he denied her again, so she married one of his younger colleague. He felt betrayed, and painted the scene in several paintings.

In the 1940’s, the Nazi’s officially took over the government, and he feared for his art even more. The pieces that had been in German Museums had been removed, and either destroyed, put into warehouses, or smuggled out to the Netherlands. Edvard died on January 23, 1944.