Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch, one of the most controversial and renowned artists among a new generation of  Expressionist and Symbolist painters, was fascinated by human mortality, chronic illness, sexual liberation, and religious aspiration. He portrayed these themes through intense color, semi-abstraction, and mysterious subjects.

Biography of Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch was born in 1863 in Adalsbruk, Norway, to Christian Munch, a physician, and Laura Catherine Bjolstad. The family moved to Oslo in 1864 when Christian became a medical officer at Akershus Fortress. His mother died of tuberculosis in 1868. Within a decade, Munch's favorite sister Sophie, a talented young artist, also died of tuberculosis. His father, a devout Christian, interpreted these deaths as divine punishment, leading to periods of depression and anger.

Munch's father's military medical career meant frequent moves and relative poverty for the family. He often read Edgar Allan Poe's ghost stories to his children, along with history and religious lessons, fostering in young Munch a fascination with death and a sense of anxiety. Munch's weak immune system made him susceptible to frequent illness, keeping him out of school for extended periods during harsh Scandinavian winters. To occupy himself, Munch turned to drawing and watercolor painting.

During his teenage years, art became a significant focus for Munch. At thirteen, he discovered the Norwegian Art Association's landscape paintings, which inspired him. By copying these works, he taught himself the techniques of oil painting.

In the 1880s, Edvard Munch, seeking a bohemian lifestyle, came across the writings of the anarchist philosopher Hans Jæger, leader of the "Kristiania-Boheme" group. This group promoted liberal sexual behavior, or "free love," and the abolition of marriage as part of a broader anti-bourgeois agenda. Munch and Jæger developed a close friendship, and Jæger encouraged Munch to draw inspiration from his personal experiences in his artwork.

"The Sick Child" (1885-86), a piece dedicated to Munch's late sister Sophie, reflects Jæger's significant influence on Munch during this period. When exhibited as "A Study" in Kristiania in 1886, the painting faced criticism from both critics and Munch's peers due to its unconventional qualities, including its scratched paint surface and overall unfinished appearance.

In 1889, Edvard Munch traveled to Paris to study under Leon Bonnat. His painting "Morning" (1884) was exhibited in the Norwegian pavilion at the Exposition Universelle that year. In Paris, Munch drew inspiration from Impressionists like Manet, as well as Post-Impressionists such as Gauguin, van Gogh, and Toulouse-Lautrec, whose lighter compositions contrasted with Munch's recurring themes of death and personal loss. During this time, Munch's father passed away, a deeply affecting event that sparked a newfound interest in spirituality and symbolism for the artist. 

In 1892, the Union of Berlin Artists invited Edvard Munch to serve as the subject for their inaugural solo exhibition, which stirred controversy due to the radical color and brooding subject matter of his works, leading to its premature closure. However, Munch capitalized on the resulting publicity, propelling his career forward. A year later, he exhibited six love-themed paintings in Berlin, which would later develop into his renowned series, "Frieze of Life - A Poem about Life, Love, and Death" (1893). 

In 1908, after his time in Berlin and subsequent return to Paris, Edvard Munch experienced a nervous breakdown due to a turbulent lifestyle of heavy drinking and fighting, compounded by the pain of losing his sister and father. He was admitted to a Copenhagen hospital for eight months, undergoing a strict regimen of diet and "electrification." During his hospitalization, Munch created the lithographic series "Alpha and Omega" (1908), exploring his relationships with various acquaintances.

Released from the hospital the following year, Munch followed his doctor's advice and returned to Norway, seeking a life of peaceful solitude. Drawing inspiration from the Norwegian landscape and the daily routines of farmers and laborers, his work during this period took on a more optimistic tone. Employing a lighter palette and adopting loose brushstrokes, Munch's themes centered around life, work, and leisure on the farm. Representative works from this time include "The Sun" (1912), "Spring Ploughing" (1916), and "Bathing Man" (1918). 

In his later years, Edvard Munch shifted away from overt themes of loss and death, instead drawing inspiration from his daily life and personal experiences. However, he did explore his own mortality through somber self-portraits during the 1930s and 40s. He also devoted much of his time to drawing and painting landscapes.

In 1940, Norway was invaded by the Nazis, leading to the confiscation of many of Munch's paintings, which were labeled "degenerate" by Hitler and removed from German museums. Despite this, seventy-one of the eighty-two confiscated works, including "The Scream," were eventually rescued by Norwegian collectors and returned to Munch's homeland.

At the age of 80, Munch passed away in Ekely, near Oslo, after battling failing vision since his early 70s and enduring an extended illness brought on by an explosion at a nearby munitions factory.

Edvard Munch's Art Style

Edvard Munch aimed for his vibrant colors, semi-abstract forms, and enigmatic themes to serve as symbols of universal significance. As a result, his drawings, paintings, and prints possess a quality akin to psychological talismans. While rooted in Munch's personal experiences, they hold the power to resonate with and perhaps alleviate the emotional or psychological conditions of any viewer.

The "Frieze" series and other works from the 1890s mark some of the most artistically significant and well-known pieces of Munch's career. During this period, he created iconic paintings such as "The Scream" (1893), "Love and Pain" (1893-94), "Ashes" (1894), "Madonna" (1894-95), and "Puberty" (1895). While these works represent only a fraction of Munch's remarkable output, they all reflect his deeply poetic melancholy, exploring themes of isolation, death, and the loss of innocence. 

Munch's persistent exploration of sexual subject matter in his work stems from his bohemian perspective, which viewed sex as a means of emotional and physical liberation from societal norms. Additionally, his contemporaries' fascination with sexuality as a gateway to deeper aspects of human psychology influenced his approach.