Main Pages


MUNCH FACTS

img 1HOW DO YOU SAY "MUNCH"?





Do you know the correct pronunciation of Edvard Munch's last name? - I didn't.


While there can be slight variations based on who you talk to, it is basically pronounced "MUENK".


Thank you
to all who have stopped in and visited our "Munch of the month" page.  We hope you have enjoyed the series and learned more about Edvard Munch and his life.  - Jon  Satrum

We also hope you took the time to view some of the films and read some of the books we recommended.


Throughout the year the images presented came from multiple sources including scans of photos from art books about Edvard Munch.  Other images came from a variety of web sites.

Many of our early comments and scans of paintings came from:

The Fireze of LifeEdvard Munch: The Frieze of Life. Mara-Helen Wood, ed. Essays by Arne Eggum, Reinhold Heller, Carla Lathe, Gerd Woll. National Gallery Publications, London: 1992.

Towards the end of our series, we discovered one web site which had both images and commentary which made our job much easier.  

While much of the commentary was about the paintings was mine, direct quotes were also taken from this site and the site was given credit when the image or commentary was presented.

Special thanks goes to:
 "www.edvardmunch.com"
Edvard Munch - The Dance of Life Site
© 2005 Roman Jaster
















Night in St. Cloud
Night in St. Cloud.
Picture Credit: Munch. John Boulton Smith.

On reviewer wrote:
 " This is such a beautiful painting.
This is just the epitome of the stillness that many people undertake after a loved one passes away. The night even seems to stand still, as if time freezes, and just leaves us all to ponder our own thoughts. I'm sure that Munch was speaking to us all from personal experience.

Some self portraits of Munch in various styles follow:

















    













































































The Scream
The Scream
Picture credit: Edvard Munch: The Frieze of Life.


Homer - Scream











Hopefully, this issue hasn't been too depressing.  We end with a little humor to lighten the tone of the issue. (Klikk for storre versjon).

Want one last look a last month's issue?  <Click Here>

We finish in December 2008:

Welcome to our "Munch of the Month" page.

Featuring a different Edvard Munch painting from January-December 2008.


This, our final issue features: "Death".

 We hope you have enjoyed the series.


Are you still interested?

Here is one more chance to learn more about Edvard Munch.  RAY HARTSTEIN CAMPUS 7701 N. Lincoln Avenue; Skokie, Illinois. Preview the upcoming Art Institute of Chicago exhibition, "Becoming Edvard Munch: Influence, Anxiety, and Myth," opening February 14, 2009.  Learn More.


Death

Munch once said: "illness, insanity and death were the black angels that kept watch over my cradle, accompanied me all my life." 


November-December's "Munch of the Month" takes a look at Munch's preoccupation with sickness and death.  He was much affected by his own illness and the ilnesses of others in his family.  Without being morbid, with death being the entire theme of this last issue of "Munch of the Month", it is important to show this significant aspect of Munch's life.


ComfortComfort

The Sick child (2 versions)
Picture credit: Edvard Munch: The Frieze of Life.

The first (on the left) was painted in1896 and the second in 1907.  Both were oil on canvas.  Notice the difference in technique.  In 1896, Munch also created a lithograph entitled "The Sick Child".  (See next)

 The Sick Child (Lithograph)

The Sick Child
Picture credit: Edvard Munch: The Frieze of Life.

Several of Munch's "death" paintings focused on a room and all who had come to be with the dying person.  While a person is dying or dead, Munch's focus is the impact on those in the room.

Deathbed
Deathbed
Picture credit: Edvard Munch: The Frieze of Life.

Deathbed (pastel)

Deathbed (Pastel)

Picture credit: Edvard Munch: The Frieze of Life.

Death in the sickroom
Death in the sickroom
Picture credit: Edvard Munch: The Frieze of Life.

Death in the sickroom (lithograph)

Death in the sickroom (lithograph)

Picture credit: Edvard Munch: The Frieze of Life.

Spring

Spring
Picture credit: Great Modern Masters: Edvard Munch.

Even with a title like "Spring", with new life beginning outside, the one inside is losing hers.

One reviewer of this painting wrote "We All Die Alone.  This picture shows the whole absurdity and cruelty of life. There is so much light and breeze coming through the window, filtering through and swelling the curtains, filling the entire room. The light, the breeze and the flowers all symbolize life. The spring itself is one of the most important symbols of life. Against this background of light and strength, the girl seems frail, weak and helpless. She is not looking at the window, she seems already resigned to her fate. The girl is dying although everything outside is coming to life. We will all die like this one day in a world throbbing with life. We won't be able to scream anymore and the nature will follow its course as if we never existed. Does life really have any meaning at all or is it just a cruel farce"? 


Dead mother and child

Dead mother, and child 

Picture credit: Edvard Munch: The Frieze of Life.

Notice the connection to "The Scream" and the positioning of the child's hands by her head.

We finish our 2008 series, "Munch of the month" with Munch's most well known painting, and find that, like so much of Munch's work that it connects, not only to the painting above but to other aspects of his art as well.

Thanks again for visiting our site.


**End of this page**