Edvand Munch Born in 1863 in Löten, Norway, famed painter Edvard Munch established a free-flowing, psychological-themed style all his own. His painting The Scream (The Cry; 1893), is one of the most recognizable works in the history of art. His later works proved to be less intense, but his earlier, darker paintings ensured his legacy. A testament to his importance, The Scream sold for more than $119 million in 2012—setting a new record. ............................ After numerous experiments, Munch concluded that the Impressionist idiom did not allow sufficient expression. He found it superficial and too akin to scientific experimentation. He felt a need to go deeper and explore situations brimming with emotional content and expressive energy. Under Jægers commandment that Munch should write his life, meaning that Munch should explore his own emotional and psychological state, Munch began a period of reflection and self-examination, recording his thoughts in his souls diary.[19] This deeper perspective helped move him to a new view of his art. He wrote that his painting The Sick Child (1886), based on his sisters death, was his first soul painting, his first break from Impressionism. The painting received a negative response from critics and from his family, and caused another violent outburst of moral indignation from the community.[20] Only his friend Christian Krohg defended him: ................................... Munch was enthralled by the vast display of modern European art, including the works of three artists who would prove influential: Paul Gauguin, Vincent van Gogh, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec—all notable for how they used color to convey emotion.[28] Munch was particularly inspired by Gauguins reaction against realism and his credo that art was human work and not an imitation of Nature, a belief earlier stated by Whistler.[29] As one of his Berlin friends stated later about Munch, he need not make his way to Tahiti to see and experience the primitive in human nature. He carries his own Tahiti within him. ................ He paints, or rather regards, things in a way that is different from that of other artists. He sees only the essential, and that, naturally, is all he paints. For this reason Munchs pictures are as a rule not complete, as people are so delighted to discover for themselves. Oh, yes, they are complete. His complete handiwork. Art is complete once the artist has really said everything that was on his mind, and this is precisely the advantage Munch has over painters of the other generation, that he really knows how to show us what he has felt, and what has gripped him, and to this he subordinates everything else.[21]
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 18:15:49 +0000
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