Red and White
(insert) 1894
Edvard Munch (1853-1944)
Munch Museum
Oslo
Last night I came back from a week in Oslo, where I had the privilege of taking time to fall in love with Munch again. At the Munch Museum they were showing some wonderful winter motifs "Sense of Snow" beginning in the 1880s. Curiously snow had not been painted much before, even though the winters are long in Norway. These are far from what Edvard Munch is best known for, which is his "Frieze of Life" series. "Frieze of life" represented Munch's dealing with tragedies in life, love, fear and death, loosely based on notes and sketches that he did in Christiania (Oslo).
Edvard Munch, travelled and lived in various places, had an incredible creative production, and did an impressive amount of art shows. Between 1892 and 1909 it is said that he had 108 shows, many of these in Germany. Although obsessed with death as a subject the thought that I am left with is that he must have been a much stronger man than what he is usually portrayed. Munch is often written about as a lonely, melancholic and mentally unstable person. Truly knowing him we will never, but the paintings live on.
This summer a mayor exhibit of Munch's work "The Modern Eye" will come to Tate Modern. This is a cooperation between the Munch Museum and the Centre Pompidou where it is currently on show.
Hestespann i snø
1923
On the Veranda Stairs
1922-24
Red House and Spruce Trees
1927
Summer night, the voice
1896
The girl and the death
1894
Madonna
1894
The original title for this painting was "Loving Woman", said to symbolize the female cycle of life:
Sexual intercourse, causing fertilization, procreation and death.
Anxiety
1894
Death in the sickroom
1895
Munch will also be the theme of the first show at the Gallery that I am opening later this year.
An exhibit focusing on Norwegian Contemporary Artists inspired or affected by Edvard Munch - but much more about that later.
With Love
Kristin