Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch (December 12, 1863 – January 23, 1944) was a Norwegian expressionist painter and printmaker. His intense, evocative treatment of anguish greatly influenced development of German expressionism in the early 20th century.

Frieze of Life — A Poem about Life, Love and Death

In December 1893, Unter den Linden in Berlin held an exhibition of Munch's work, showing, among other pieces, six paintings entitled Study for a Series: Love. This began a cycle he later called the Frieze of Life — A Poem about Life, Love and Death. Frieze of Life motifs are steeped in atmosphere such as The Storm, Moonlight and Starry Night. Other motifs illuminate the nocturnal side of love, such as Rose and Amelie and Vampire. In Death in the Sickroom (1893), he depicts his sister Sophie's death to illustrate the morbid theme. The dramatic focus of the painting, in which he portrays the entire family, is the Munch figure. In 1894, he enlarged the spectrum of motifs by adding Anxiety, Ashes, Madonna and Women in Three Stages.

Related Topics:
December - 1893 - Unter den Linden - 1894 - Madonna

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Around the turn of the century, Munch worked to finish the Frieze. He painted a number of pictures, several of them in larger format and to some extent featuring the art nouveau aesthetics of the time. He made a wooden frame with carved reliefs for the large painting Metabolism (1898), initially called Adam and Eve. This work reveals Munch's preoccupation with the "fall of man" myth in Munch's pessimistic philosophy of love. Motifs such as The Empty Cross and Golgota (both c. 1900) reflect a metaphysical orientation to the times, and also echo Munch's pietistic upbringing. The entire Frieze showed for the first time at the secessionist exhibition in Berlin in 1902.

Related Topics:
Art nouveau - 1898 - 1900 - Secessionist - 1902

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~