Edvard Munch

Norwegian painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944) created some of the most psychologically intense images in modern art. His 1893 painting The Scream, depicting a figure with an agonized expression against a tumultuous sky, became an icon of existential anxiety. Munch pioneered Expressionism, using bold colors and semi-abstract forms to convey emotional and psychological states rather than external reality. His Frieze of Life series explored themes of love, anxiety, death, and melancholy that haunted his family and personal life.

Munch's mother and sister died of tuberculosis during his childhood; another sister suffered mental illness. These traumas shaped his art: "Illness and madness and death were the black angels that stood at my cradle." He studied in Paris, absorbing influences from Gauguin and Van Gogh. A severe mental breakdown in 1908 led to treatment in Copenhagen, after which his work became calmer. Munch bequeathed his entire estate to Oslo upon his death, forming the collection of the MUNCH Museum, which holds approximately 1,100 paintings, 4,500 drawings, and 18,000 prints. The Scream exists in multiple versions; two painted versions were famously stolen separately and recovered.