Edvard Munch (1863-1944) was a Norwegian painter and printmaker, a major figure of Symbolism and a forerunner of Expressionism. Haunted by anguish, illness and death, he explored human emotions in works that have become universal, including *The Scream*.
Edvard Munch(1863 — 1944)
Edvard Munch
Norvège
6 min read
Frequently asked questions
Famous Quotes
« I do not paint what I see, but what I saw.»
« Illness, madness and death were the black angels that kept watch over my cradle.»
Key Facts
- Born in 1863 in Løten, Norway, into a family marked early by illness and mourning.
- Painted *The Scream* in 1893, an emblematic work of modern anguish produced in several versions.
- Created the frieze *The Frieze of Life*, a cycle exploring love, anguish and death.
- His 1892 exhibition in Berlin sparked a scandal and marked the birth of the Berlin Secession.
- Died in 1944 in Oslo, bequeathing the bulk of his work to the city (Munch Museum).
Works & Achievements
A poignant evocation of the death of his sister Sophie; its blurred, unfinished handling caused a scandal and signalled his break with academicism.
Munch's most famous work, a universal icon of modern anguish, produced in several versions.
An ambivalent female figure blending life, desire and death, emblematic of Munch's symbolism.
An ambiguous scene of embrace, long interpreted as a woman vampirising a man, typical of his tormented vision of love.
A vast set of paintings organised around the themes of love, anguish and death.
A large allegorical composition showing the three ages of woman and the cycle of existence.
A monumental decorative scheme, including *The Sun*, marking the luminous, optimistic turn of his late art.
A meditation on old age and impending death, with the artist depicting himself frozen between passing time and his bed.
Anecdotes
In 1893, Munch painted *The Scream*, inspired by a walk at sunset near Oslo: he recounted feeling “an infinite scream passing through nature” as the sky turned blood red. There are actually several versions of the work (paintings, pastels, and lithographs).
Munch had a childhood marked by illness: his mother died of tuberculosis when he was 5, and his elder sister Sophie died of the same disease when he was 14. These losses would haunt his entire body of work, as in *The Sick Child*.
In 1908, worn down by alcohol, anxiety, and hallucinations, Munch was hospitalized in a clinic in Copenhagen for several months. He came out calmer and changed his style, adopting brighter, more luminous colors.
Toward the end of his life, having become famous, Munch refused to sell some of his canvases, which he called his “children.” He lived surrounded by them on his estate at Ekely, near Oslo.
When the Nazis occupied Norway, Munch feared they would confiscate his works, which had already been removed from German museums as “degenerate art.” At his death in 1944, he bequeathed to the city of Oslo more than 1,000 paintings, 15,000 prints, and thousands of drawings.
Primary Sources
I was walking along a path with two friends — the sun was setting — suddenly the sky turned blood red — I stopped, tired, and leaned against a fence — there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city — my friends walked on, and I stayed there, trembling with anguish — and I felt an infinite scream passing through nature.
I do not paint what I see, but what I saw.
In his will, Munch bequeathed all the works remaining in his possession to the municipality of Oslo, thus founding the collection of the future Munch Museum.
Key Places
Village where Edvard Munch was born in 1863, into a cultured but not wealthy middle-class family.
Capital city where Munch grew up, trained, and exhibited his first works; he would later bequeath his entire collection to it.
City where Munch stayed from 1885 onward and discovered Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, which proved decisive for his art.
His first exhibition there caused a scandal in 1892; Munch lived in the city for several years and developed *The Frieze of Life* there.
Facility where Munch was committed in 1908-1909 after a nervous breakdown; he found a measure of peace there.
Estate where Munch lived as a recluse from 1916 until his death in 1944, surrounded by his canvases and his open-air studios.
