Edvard Munch (1863-1944)
EXPRESSIONS OF ANXIETY
“For as long as I can remember I have suffered from a deep feeling of anxiety, which I have tried to express in my art.” —Edvard Munch
Norwegian artist Edvard Munch believed that art should consist of more than “pretty pictures to be hung on drawing-room walls.” Instead, he sought to make “art that gives something to humanity...that arrests and engages. An art created of one’s innermost heart.” Indeed, as an early innovator of Expressionism, Munch’s emotionally compelling paintings, lithographs, etchings, and woodcuts achieved these noble objectives and more.
The second of five children, Munch was raised in a close family. He learned how to draw as a young child from his aunt Karen, who assumed caring for the children following Edvard’s mother’s death from tuberculosis; years later, his sister also succumbed to the disease. Both tragedies left an indelible mark and influenced Munch’s work, much of which depicts the sadness, anguish, fear, and anxiety associated with the human condition.
Munch attended technical college for a year before dropping out to devote his life to painting. In the years that followed, he attended art school and traveled frequently to Paris and Germany. In 1892, he staged his first exhibition at the invitation of the Union of Berlin Artists, but critics were outraged by Munch’s unconventional artistic methods, and the exhibition closed after one week; however, his reputation as an artist-on-the-rise was solidified. His success grew from that point forward, but not without its proverbial roller coaster ride that included a nervous breakdown, gambling, drinking, and unhealthy relationships, one of which ended in a lovers’ quarrel and shooting that wounded Munch’s left hand. —RJR
Notable works: Evening on Karl Johan, 1892; The Scream, 1893; Ashes, 1894.