Introduction to Edvard Munch

"We want more than a mere photograph of nature. We do not want to paint pretty pictures to be hung on drawing-room walls. We want to create, or at least lay the foundations of, an art that gives something to humanity. An art that arrests and engages. An art created of one's innermost heart." (E.M.)

Edvard Munch, Norway's most popular artist, was a painter, lithographer, etcher, and wood engraver. He is looked upon as one of the most significant influences on the development of German and Central European expressionism. Munch's convulsed and tortuous art was formed by the misery and conflicts of his time, and, even more important, by his own unhappy life. Childhood tragedy, intense and dramatic love affairs, alcoholism, and ceaseless traveling are reflected in his works, particularly in paintings like The Sick Child, The Scream, and Vampire. Munch's pictures show his social awareness and his tendency to express, as in Puberty, many of the basic fears and anxieties of mankind.

Edvard Munch became a celebrity in Germany overnight when the inclusion of his works caused the closing of the Verein Berliner Künstler exhibition of 1892. His man-destroying Vampire was decidedly "objectionable." He live and worked in Germany for many years, exerting thereby a tremendous influence on German artist circles.