Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch
Self Portrait with Skeleton Arm, 1895
Born
12 December 1863(1863-12-12)
Ådalsbruk in Løten, Norway
Died
23 January 1944 (aged 80)
Oslo, Norway
Nationality Norwegian
Field
Painting
Movement
Expressionism
Works
The Scream
Edvard Munch
(pronounced [muŋk], 12
December 1863 – 23 January 1944)[1] was a
Norwegian Symbolist painter, printmaker
and an important forerunner of expressionist-
ic art. His best-known composition, The
Scream is part of a series The Frieze of Life,
in which Munch explored the themes of life,
love, fear, death, and melancholy.
Biography
Youth
Edvard Munch was born in a rustic farm-
house in the village of Ådalsbruk in Løten,
Norway to Christian Munch, the son of a
prominent priest. Christian was a doctor and
medical officer who married Laura Cathrine
Bjølstad, a woman half his age, in 1861. Ed-
vard had an older sister, Johanne Sophie
(born 1862), and three younger siblings:
Peter Andreas (born 1865), Laura Cathrine
(born 1867), and Inger Marie (born 1868).
Both Sophie and Edvard appear to have in-
herited their artistic talent from their moth-
er. Edvard Munch was related to painter Ja-
cob Munch (1776–1839) and historian Peter
Andreas Munch (1810–1863).[2]
The family moved to Kristiania (now Oslo)
in 1864 when Christian Munch was appoin-
ted medical officer at Akershus Fortress. Ed-
vard’s mother died of tuberculosis in 1868, as
did Munch’s favorite sister Johanne Sophie in
1877.[3] After their mother’s death,
the
Munch siblings were raised by their father
and by their aunt Karen. Often ill for much of
the winters and kept out of school, Edvard
would draw to keep himself occupied, and re-
ceived tutoring from his school mates and his
aunt. Christian Munch also instructed his son
in history and literature, and entertained the
children with vivid ghost stories and tales of
Edgar Allan Poe.[4]
Christian’s positive behavior toward his
children, however, was overshadowed by his
morbid pietism. Munch wrote, “My father
was temperamentally nervous and obsess-
ively religious—t