Edvard Munch (redirected from Edward Munch)

Munch, Edvard 

Born Dec. 12, 1863, in Löten; died Jan. 23, 1944, in Ekely, near Oslo. Norwegian painter and graphic artist.

Munch studied in Christiania at the Royal School of Art and Handicraft from 1881 to 1886 and at the studio of C. Krohg in 1882 and 1883. From the late 1880’s to 1908 he lived on the European continent. In France he was influenced by postimpressionism. He spent a great deal of time in Germany; he also lived for some time in Italy. Munch’s philosophy developed under the influence of H. H. Jaeger and such symbolist writers as J. A. Strindberg, as a result of which the artist became fascinated with the themes of slowly ebbing life, death, solitude, anxiety, and perverse eroticism.

Beginning in the 1890’s, Munch’s works showed the influence of art nouveau (The Artist’s Sister, 1892; The Dying Man’s Room, 1893). At the same time, a number of new devices that intensified the tragic impact of images and in many ways anticipated expressionism were revealed. These devices included the use of bold vortex-forming lines, intensely dynamic composition, and a dissonant palette (The Scream, 1893; The Dance of Life, 1899; Girls on the Bridge, c. 1901—all three works in the National Gallery, Oslo).

Most of Munch’s works of the 1890’s and the first decade of the 20th century are part of the symbolic cycle Frieze of Life,which the artist never completed. The artist also painted decorative murals (the wall painting in the auditorium of the University of Oslo, 1910—16) and produced a great many expressive portraits of his contemporaries. Munch also did a number of engravings, etchings, and lithographs.

REFERENCES

Stenersen, R. Edvard Munk. Epilogue by I. Ia. Tsagarelli. Moscow, 1972. (Translated from Norwegian.)
Benesch, O. E. Munch. Cologne, 1960.
Munchmuseet: Katalog. Oslo, 1963. Stang, N. Edvard Munch. Oslo [1971].
E. Munch (album). Text by T. M. Messer. New York, [1973].

V. I. VOLODINA