Edvard Munch was born in a farmhouse in the village of Ådalsbruk in Løten, Norway. Edvard had 3 sisters and a brother. His mother was artistically talented and may have encouraged Edvard and his younger sister Sophie. The family moved to Oslo (then called Christiania and renamed Kristiania in 1877) in 1864. In 1868 Edvard's mother died of tuberculosis. Munch's older sister, Johanne Sophie, also died of tuberculosis at the age of 15 in 1877. Edvard later painted this in "The Sick Child" (1886). They were often ill during winters and teached by their father and told them the tales of the American writer Edgar Allan Poe. Edvard entertained himself by drawing. Edvard's only brother Andreas was the only one to marry but he died a few months after. When Edvard was 13 he joined the newly formed Art Association. Edvard Munch often expressed his fear that he would become insane. His whole family suffered from mental health problems.
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| The Sick Child (1886) |
When his painting The Sick Child was first displayed in Oslo in 1886 he was accused of being a "madman". Edvard had a borderline personality disorder and consumed a lot of alcohol. In 1879 Munch enrolled in a technical college to study engineering. His frequent illnesses interrupted his studies. And finally he decided to leave school and become a painter. In 1881 Edvard enrolled at the Royal School of Art and Design of Kristiania, One of the founders of this school was his distant relative Jacob Munch. His first paintings were a portrait of his father and a self-portrait. Later the portrait he did of of Karl Jensen-Hjell was noticed by the press and he was nicknamed "Bizzarro". He also did a lot of nude painting but none of them survived except for "Standing Nude" (1887). Edvard experimented with many styles including Naturalism and Impressionism. His work at the time looked a lot like Manet and therefore he was criticized. "Portrait of Hans Jæger" clearly showed naturalism. And an example of impressionism is "Rue Lafayette".
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| Portrait of Hans Jæger (1889) |
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| Rue Lafayette (1891) |
The recognition his work received led to a two-year state scholarship to study in Paris under French painter Léon Bonnat. In Paris he would become influenced by the work of Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. In december 1889 his father died and he made sketchy tavern scenes and a series of bright cityscapes in which he experimented with the pointillist style of Georges Seurat.
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| Melancholy (1891) |
By 1892 he created his own unique synthetist style as seen in "Melancholy" (1891) and moved to Berlin. He would develop works that represented the cycle of life itself called "The Frieze of Life". His most famous work ever was also created during this time called "The Scream" existing in 4 versions (2 pastels from 1893 / 1895 and 2 paintings from 1893 / 1910). The legendary film poster from “Home Alone” (1990) starring Macaulay Culkin was inspired by “The Scream”.
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| By the deadbed (1915) |
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| The Scream (1895) |
He created his version of Adam and Eve titled "Metabolism" (1898) which was supposed to be the last painting in his "Frieze Of Life" series. But this style surved through his later paintings. The first new series were about women on a bridge called "The Bridge".
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| The Women On The Bridge (1902) |
Another series with lancscapes was titled "Trembling Earth" before moving back to Paris further developing his woodcut and lithographic technique. "Self-Portrait with Skeleton Arm" (1895) is an example of this. After studying the sculptures of Rodin, Munch may have experimented with plasticine as an aid to design, but he produced little sculpture.
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| From Thüringerwald (1905) |
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| Self-Portrait with Skeleton Arm (1895) |
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| Madonna (1902) |
In the autumn of 1908 excessive drinking and mental behaviour was becoming a serious problem. He entered the clinic of Daniel Jacobson. The next year he was stabilized and returned to Norway. As a result of that his work became more colorful and less pessimistic. The general public of Kristiania (Oslo) finally liked his work and museums began to purchase his paintings. He was made a Knight of the Royal Order of St. Olav "for services in art".
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| Beach (1940) |
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| Self Portrait In The Garden, Ekely (1942) |
Munch spent most of his last two decades in solitude at Skøyen, Oslo. In 1940 the Germans invaded Norway and the Nazi party took over the government when Edvard was 76 years old. The Nazis stole a lot of his work but most of it later returned to Norway. Munch died in his house at Ekely near Oslo on 23 January 1944, just over a month after his 80th birthday.
