Edvard Munch (pronounced [moonk], December 12, 1863 – January 23, 1944) was a Norwegian Symbolist painter, printmaker, and an important forerunner of Expressionistic art.
His best-known painting, The Scream (1893), is one of the pieces in a series titled The Frieze of Life, in which Munch explored the themes of life, love, fear, death, and melancholy. As with many of his works, he painted several versions of it. Similar paintings include Despair and Anxiety
The Frieze of Life themes recur throughout Munch's work, in paintings such as The Sick Child (1886, portrait of his deceased sister Sophie), Love and Pain (1893-94) though more commonly known as "Vampire." Art critic Stanislaw Przybyszewski mistakenly interpreted the image as being vampiric in theme and content, and the description has since stuck, Ashes (1894), and The Bridge.¹
"From the moment of my birth, the angels of anxiety, worry, and death stood at my side, followed me out when I played, followed me in the sun of springtime and in the glories of summer."
Recommended books on Edvard Munch:
Edvard Munch: Signs of Modern Art by Ulf Kuster, Philippe Buttner, Bjerke Oivind, and Edvard Munch; Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul by Patricia Berman, Reinhold Heller, Elizabeth Prelinger, and Tina Yarborough; Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream by Sue Prideaux; The Private Journals of Edvard Munch: We Are Flames Which Pour Out of the Earth by Edvard Munch, Frank Hoifodt, and J. Gill Holland;
Munch: In His Own Words by Poul Erik Tojner and Edvard Munch; The Story of Edvard Munch by Ketil Bjornstad, Torbjorn Stoverud, and Hal Sutcliffe; Graphic Works of Edvard Munch by Edvard Munch; After the Scream: The Late Paintings of Edvard Munch by Elizabeth Prelinger.
Edvard Munch (pronounced [moonk], December 12, 1863 – January 23, 1944) was a Norwegian Symbolist painter, printmaker, and an important forerunner of Expressionistic art.