Happy Birthday, Edvard Munch!

Edvard Munch, a Norwegian painter and printmaker, was a pivotal figure in the expressionist movement. His work is characterized by its evocative treatment of psychological themes, built upon some of the main tenets of late 19th-century Symbolism. Munch’s most famous work, “The Scream,” epitomizes this approach, conveying profound existential angst – a groundbreaking depiction of emotional and psychological states in visual art. His innovative style, which departed from the realism of the time, influenced the German Expressionists and foreshadowed many modern art developments. Munch’s exploration of deep human fears, anxieties, and feelings was unprecedented in painting, making him a crucial bridge between traditional and contemporary art forms.

The text below is the excerpt of the book Edvard Munch (ISBN: 9781683256366), written by Ashley Bassie and Elizabeth Ingles, published by Parkstone International.

Although he did not dare to contradict his father by refusing to go to church, by the time he was in his early twenties he had reached the conclusion that God did not exist, and that there was no eternity.

This belief in the non-existence of God remained broadly unaltered throughout the rest of his life, though he changed his mind about the possibility of a continued existence in a kind of afterlife.

With some bravery, Munch took the decision to become a painter in the face of his Father’s firm preference that he should study engineering. His father reluctantly acceded, on the advice of a draughtsman friend.

One of Munch’s earliest self-portraits, from a year or so later (Self-Portrait, 1881-1882), shows a young man of sensitive, even sickly aspect, his large pale face, full curving lips and sloping shoulders giving little cause to credit him with any kind of physical or mental toughness. Yet there is, in the clear gaze, something of a challenge to the onlooker who might thus dismiss him. There is character here.

After their mother’s death, the children were comforted a little by the advent of her younger sister Karen, who came into the family and took over as housekeeper and governess. She had done some dabbling in painting herself, and quickly came to recognise that Edvard had an unusual talent.

Her encouragement was greatly valued by him later in his life, although at first he did not appreciate it as much as he might.

A portrait of his aunt done in 1884 (Karen BjØlstad in a Rocking Chair) goes some way to making amends – the calm young woman is portrayed sitting in the window, gently rocking herself.

His portraits of this period are strikingly mature, particularly that of his sister Inger, which reveals a young girl with great strength of character in her sombre, slightly averted gaze (Inger Munch, 1884).

Norway was an artistic backwater at this time – the few major painters of the period included Christian Krohg, Fritz Thaulow and Erik Werenskiold, who formed the native school, with its keynote of naturalism. They mounted their first Autumn Exhibition in 1882, beginning a regular series that at first attracted much critical disapproval. Manet was their idol, their lone-star.

Munch embraced this group warmly, and in the course of some months was taught how to use colour by Krohg. However, he felt he had to go abroad to gain the stimulus and training he needed.

In 1885 he was enabled to go to Paris thanks to the generosity of Thaulow, always a supporter, and grants from various bodies. Thaulow – the brother-in-law of Gauguin, as it happens – not only gave him moral and financial support in the face of critical hostility, but also bought one of his earliest successes, Morning (A Servant Girl) of 1884.

Before he left for Paris, Munch met the woman who was to cause him perhaps the deepest grief and psychological damage of his emotional life: Emilie (Milly) Thaulow. He was now twenty-two; she was twenty-four, married to his cousin Carl, and with no moral scruples about engaging in an adulterous affair.

She was beautiful and blonde in a classic Scandinavian way, and admirers flocked round her. She toyed with Munch, who fell heavily for her. At first they enjoyed a lovers’ idyll, but he was unable to retain the interest of this sensual and amoral woman for long.

Munch continued to show work at the regular Autumn Exhibitions in Oslo, but the critics took not the slightest notice of his offerings at the 1887 show. Feeling neglected and slighted professionally, he was reduced to a state of deep neurosis when he realised that the experienced Milly was not after all faithful to him. His love for her, always slightly unhealthy, now became an obsession, fuelled by the fact that she made it plain she was out of his reach.

He kept a precarious hold on his sanity by pouring out his feelings into his semifictional diaries, a form of release that he relied on throughout most of his life. In Paris, where his arrival was delayed by a year through a bout of severe illness, he saw the work of the leading painters of the day: the Impressionists, the Post-Impressionists and the Symbolists.

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