Edvard Munch

The Scream

„The Scream“ shows a figure clutching its ears beneath a blood-red sky: an emblem of modern anxiety.

💡 Did you know? It was stolen from museums twice and reappeared both times.

inner feelings (fear, death)

Munch sought to paint not the outer world but inner states like fear, loneliness and death.

💡 Did you know? „I do not paint what I see, but what I saw,“ said Munch.

Expressionism

With his emotionally charged pictures, Munch is considered the most important forerunner of Expressionism.

💡 Did you know? A Munch exhibition in Berlin in 1892 was so shocking that it was closed early: a scandal that made him famous.

Norway

He bequeathed his work to his home city of Oslo.

💡 Did you know? Munch grew up in Norway, then still united with Sweden; illness and death marked his whole family.

the early death of his mother and sister

Munch's mother and favourite sister died young of tuberculosis: death became the core theme of his art.

💡 Did you know? „Illness, madness and death were the black angels at my cradle,“ Munch wrote.

1944

Munch died in 1944 in Nazi-occupied Norway and bequeathed his vast body of work to the city of Oslo.

💡 Did you know? The Nazis had removed Munch's art as „degenerate“ from German museums: though he was long world-famous.

The Scream

Around 1893: one of the best-known icons in all of art.

💡 Did you know? Munch made several versions; one sold in 2012 for about 120 million dollars, and two were spectacularly stolen.

Vampire

Painted around 1893.

💡 Did you know? The picture actually shows a woman comforting a man; it was a critic who dubbed it „Vampire.“

Melancholy

Painted around 1891.

💡 Did you know? A brooding figure on the shore: Munch made melancholy itself the subject of the picture.

The Sick Child

After the early death of his sister: a deeply personal picture.

💡 Did you know? Munch painted the motif of his dying sister again and again for over 40 years: a lifelong trauma.

Dance of Life

Painted around 2000.

💡 Did you know? Three female figures (in white, red and black) embody innocence, passion and death.

The Kiss

Painted around 1897.

💡 Did you know? The faces of the lovers merge into a single surface: closeness to the point of dissolution.

Jealousy

Painted around 1895.

💡 Did you know? In the foreground a pale, tormented face: Munch worked through his own stormy love affairs.

Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch (1863 to 1944) was a Norwegian painter and forerunner of Expressionism, whose „The Scream“ is one of the best-known images in the world.

💡 Did you know? Munch left the city of Oslo over 1,000 paintings and 15,000 prints: now in the purpose-built Munch Museum.