Edvard Munch

1863-1944

European Artist

Munch was born in Loten, Norway. After his initial studies in Oslo where he was associated with the Norwegian avant-garde, Munch was deeply stirred by the Impressionists. He encountered the works of Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. In 1892 the premature closing of his first one-man exhibit in Berlin prompted Munch to found the Berlin Secession. Munch is counted among the forerunners of Expressionism. "Art," wrote Munch, "is the antithesis of nature." He spent most of his twenties in Paris and Berlin. His paintings show the possibilities of distilling intense emotions into universal experiences through simplified, sinuous forms and evocative blocks of pure color. By validating the concept of painting one's emotional response to a subject, Munch pointed the way for the development of German Expressionist painting. By 1900 Munch had created his most important works. In 1908 he suffered a nervous breakdown, after which his paintings changed. Instead of the revelation of private despair, he looked into the world for more optimistic and universal symbols. The artist's brooding, anguished and powerful work, based on personal grief and obsessions, was instrumental in the development of expressionism, and is now considered a significant force in modern art.