I was almost mad - Edvard Munch

When we read or hear about accomplished and famous artists, our attention is usually centred on their skill, their unique craft and their drive to explore the unknown. We tend to study and emulate their identifiable style. Hardly ever, if at all, do we pause to understand the underlying emotional state of the human being hidden behind that glorious name. The mind that caused them to see the world differently, is likely to have been the one that pushed them to express their vision in their own unusual way.

It is likely that their techniques evolved as a natural progression to their deep rooted desire to recreate a world that the way they saw it. Reading about Edvard Munch has taught me to differentiate between the multitudes who apply paint to canvas because they know how to, and those who paint their feelings and lay out their mind on canvas.

"I do not believe in the art which is not the compulsive result of Man's urge to open his heart.”

Most of Munch’s paintings were in a style called symbolism. They depicted his internal view of the things, not what the eye could see. They reflected an emotion or idea. Munch's works show death, terror or feelings of loneliness. He used contrasting lines and dark blocks of colours to symbolise emotion. Munch often used shadows and rings of colour around his figures to emphasise an aura of fear.

"in my art I attempt to explain life and its meaning to myself.”

His best known work is ‘The Scream’ exists in four versions: two paintings and two pastels versions. One of the most recognisable paintings in the world, to every viewer, it represents the universal anxiety of modern man.

Munch wrote: "I was walking down the road with two friends when the sun set. Suddenly, the sky turned as red as blood. I stopped and leaned against the fence, feeling unspeakably tired. Tongues of fire and blood stretched over the bluish black fjord. My friends went on walking, while I lagged behind, shivering with fear. Then I heard the enormous, infinite scream of nature.”

“Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye... it also includes the inner pictures of the soul.”

Edvard Munch was a Norwegian Painter and printmaker [1863 to 1944]. He also wrote prose and poetry.

Often unable to attend school due to illness, he would draw to keep himself occupied. His mother and sister died when Edvard was very young. The boy was known to have felt that death and sorrow were his companions. He was plagued by suicidal thoughts. The mental anguish was displayed in many of his works.

The family moved frequently. Munch's early drawings and watercolours depicted these interiors, and landscapes. At thirteen, Munch had his first exposure to other artists and he admired the work of the Norwegian landscape school.

He tried to copy the paintings, and soon he began to paint in oils. During these early years, Munch experimented with many styles, played with a variety of brushstroke and colour palettes, as he struggled to define his style. He began to create compositions to create tension and emotion. He was stylistically influenced by the Post-Impressionists, the subject matter which was symbolist - depicting a state of mind rather than an external reality.

Munch went through a period of reflection and introspection to understand his own psychological state and started to record his thoughts in his ‘soul’s diary’. This gave him a fresh view on his own art.

In his 20s, Munch travelled to Paris and was fascinated by modern European art. He was influenced by Monet, Manet, Van Gogh, Cezanne and Gauguin,

all known for how they used colour to convey emotion.

Munch's work was considered violent and brutal, but his exhibitions received a lot of attention. The public found his work disturbing and strange.

He made some income from charging entrance fees to view his controversial paintings. Munch did not like to part with his paintings, he considered them his children. He believed all of his work was a single body of expression

An early critic of photography as an art form, he felt that it "will never compete with the brush and the palette”

The Munch Museum in Oslo has the largest collection of his works.

Munch's image appears on the Norwegian 1,000-kroner note. Munch's paintings were depicted in a series of stamps by the Norwegian postal service, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of his birth.

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Published in Colour Canvas issue of December 2018