Edvard Munch. Image from visitoslo.com

Today is  Edvard Munch’s birthday, here’s 10 facts everyone should know about the master

 

1. His family was riddled by illnesses

Speaking of his family’s ill health, Munch once said: “I inherited two of mankind’s most frightful enemies – the heritage of consumption and insanity.”
With irony in the fact that the painter’s father was a doctor, his family suffered tragedy in ill health. Munch lost his mother and sister young to tuberculosis, and his other sister was eventually committed to an asylum due to mental health.

2. He enrolled in art school against his father’s wish

Raised by his widowed father, Munch was discouraged from choosing painting as a career. Undeterred by this, he enrolled in Art College and later cited his father’s dark temperament as influential in the shaping of his psyche and his work.

3. He moved to Paris for his career

Edvard Munch moved to Paris in 1889, where his style began to develop under the influence of Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gaugin’s conveyance of emotion through colour.

4. His own life inspired “The Scream”

The artists’ most famous painting “The Scream”, is the outcome of anxiety and fear he experienced when out walking and the sky suddenly turning blood red. The agonised expression on the face of the figure in the painting expresses exactly his unnerved sentiments.

The Scream. Image from commons.wikimedia.org and Aunt Karen in the Rocking Chair, 1883. Image from wikiart.org

5. The “Frieze of Life” series

The painting was part of his “Frieze of Life” series, where sickness, death, fear, love and melancholy are prominent themes.

6. There’s more than one “Scream”

There are four versions of “The Scream” – two in pastel and two paintings. One of the pastel’s sold for over $100 million in 2012, making it the fourth highest nominal price paid for a painting at auction.

7. Life in a sanitarium

The painter’s successful peak led to a downward spiral, and resulted in him spending time in a sanitarium. His excessive drinking and poor mental health brought on a psychosis, and Munch claimed to hear voices and refer to himself as “verging on madness”.

8. His recovery changed his art forever

After treatment, Munch had a newly restored sense of optimism, resulting his use of a lighter palette in his work. Using negative space in abundance for the first time, he created “The Sun”, “Spring Ploughing” and “Bathing Man” – going as far as to now cheerfully title his works too.

The Sun. Image from wikiart.org

9. His work was considered “degenerate” by the Nazis

In the 1930s and 40s, the Nazis labeled Munch’s work as “degenerate”, with Hitler declaring “For all we care, those prehistoric Stone Age culture barbarians and art-stutterers can return to the caves of their ancestors and there can apply their primitive international scratching.” Other artists tarred with this brush included Picasso, Paul Klee, Matisse and Munch’s hero, Gauguin.

10. His work went on to influence popular culture

Munch died in Norway in 1944, but the painter’s legacy lives on through popular culture. The master of pop-art, Andy Warhol, produced silk prints of Munch’s in the 80s, Wes Craven injected the iconic face of “The Scream” into his 1996 film of the same name and the creators of Dr. Who even appropriated the figure in a 2011 episode of the show.

Andy Warhol’s Munch inspired prints, 1984