New York Times. Feb 14, 1937.
A Celebrated Artist-Recluse
Edvard Munch, considered by many
to be Norway’s greatest artist, was recently persuaded, with great difficulty,
to exhibit his work in London. Never before had Mr. Munch shown his pictures
abroad and for many years he had refused to exhibit or sell even in Norway.
he is now 73 years old and lives the life of a recluse near Oslo.
The London exhibition could procure only four of the veteran artist’s oil
paintings. One of them, "The Sick Girl," was painted in 1885, when
Mr. Munch ranked among the moderns. The rest of the show consisted of lithographs
and colored woodcuts.
The large country house in which the artist lives his secluded life has only
two residential rooms. The rest of the building is given over to workshops and
storerooms filled with packing cases and pictures that Mr. Munch declines to
sell.
The old artist paints in a roofless barn, with long grass instead of a floor,
underfoot. Only two persons may intrude upon him, one a shipping agent, and
the other Pola Gaugin, son of the famous painter. Some time ago, however, Professor
Dorner, head of the Landesmuseum in Hanover and an admirer of Munch’s work,
managed to pay a call.
"Mr. Munch hates all contact with the outside world," Professor Dorner
relates. "It took several days trying to get in touch with him, but at
last I managed to coax him not only to consent to see me but also to show his
pictures at the London Gallery.
"He is old and ill but paints all the time. He never answers letter; piles
of correspondence are heaped on a desk in one of the rooms."