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Edvard Munch

1863–1944 · Symbolism, Expressionism

Edvard Munch (1863–1944) was a Norwegian painter whose work bridges Symbolism and Expressionism. His images of love, anxiety, illness and death, above all The Scream, turned private emotion into a visual language that still feels immediate. This gallery follows him from early scenes painted from observation to his late self-portraits.

Life and work

Edvard Munch was born in Ådalsbruk, Norway, in 1863 and died at Ekely in 1944. Over a long career he moved from naturalistic beginnings to become a central figure of Symbolism and a key forerunner of Expressionism, and the works in this gallery trace that path. Early pictures such as Morning (1884) show a painter working from observed light and everyday interiors. The Sick Child (1885–1886) already breaks with polished finish: its scraped, reworked surface carries as much feeling as the scene itself. Around 1890 his work turns inward. Night in Saint-Cloud (1890) and Melancholy (1892) use dim rooms, shorelines and isolated figures to suggest moods rather than tell stories. In the mid-1890s came the images most closely tied to his name, including The Scream, Anxiety, Vampire, Madonna, Jealousy and Separation. He conceived these themes of love, fear and death as a connected cycle, often called the Frieze of Life, and Dance of Life (1899–1900) gathers many of them into a single shoreline scene. Munch returned to his motifs again and again, making new painted and printed versions years later, as the 1910 Scream and the later Starry Night (1922–1924) show. Self-portraits run through the whole gallery, from Self-Portrait with Burning Cigarette (1895) to Self-Portrait. Between the Clock and the Bed (1940–1944).

The Scream (1893), National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design

Start with the figure in the foreground: hands pressed to the head, the body reduced to a wavering, almost skull-like form. Then follow the lines outward. The straight diagonal of the railing drives into the picture, while the sky and fjord behind dissolve into curving bands of red, orange and blue. That clash between rigid geometry and swirling landscape is the source of the tension. Notice the two figures walking calmly further back, apparently untouched by whatever the foreground figure experiences. The sketchy handling and visible board are part of the effect, not signs of an unfinished work.

Self-Portrait. Between the Clock and the Bed (1940–1944), Munch Museum

In one of his last self-portraits, Munch shows himself as an old man standing stiffly in a narrow space between a tall clock and a bed. Look at the clock face: it has no hands, a quiet reference to time running out. The bed, with its patterned cover, has long been read as a reminder of illness and death. Behind him, a bright room is hung with paintings, suggesting the body of work he is leaving behind. Compare the warm, high-keyed colour here with the darker palette of the 1890s pictures elsewhere in the gallery.

Where to see the paintings

National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design
Night in Saint-Cloud
The Scream
Puberty
Self-Portrait with Cigarette
Dance of Life
J. Paul Getty Museum
Starry Night
Munch Museum
Anxiety
Vampire
Self-Portrait. Between the Clock and the Bed
Vampire

Works may be off view or on loan. See each painting’s page for museum details.

Sources