Edvard Munch Oil Painting Reproductions

Edvard Munch Art: A Biography

Born on 12 December 1863 in Löten, Norway, Edvard Munch is a famed post-expressionist painter.

A year after his birth, Munch’s family moved to Oslo. Sadly, his mother died of tuberculosis just four years later. As a result, munch experienced many family tragedies during his life. These episodes caused intense fear of physical illness and mental health issues throughout his life.

Munch’s sister (Sophie) also died of tuberculosis. She was just 15 at the time. Years later, Munch’s brother died from pneumonia aged 30. Another sister spent most of her life in a mental health institution.

Edvard Munch initially pursued a career in engineering. He consequently attended technical college in 1879. Despite this, Munch left after just a year. He discovered a passion for art, which disappointed his highly conservative father.

In 1881, Munch began studying at the Royal School of Art and Design in Oslo.

Who is a famous Norwegian painter?

Edvard Munch is a famous Norwegian painter. Today, he’s one of the best-known painters from Norway and the entire world. Despite this, widespread artistic recognition came slowly during Munch’s lifetime.

After three years of study, Munch received a scholarship to travel to France. It was an eye-opening experience, where Munch saw new impressionist art for the first time. But, unfortunately, he also drank heavily, moving amongst bohemian circles. This behavior deeply worried Munch’s father.

Returning to Oslo, he worked on paintings such as The Sick Child. Completed in 1886, it showed Munch’s move away from strict realism. Instead, the moving portrait captures intensely personal emotions. It depicts Munch’s feelings about his sister’s death nine years earlier.

Munch’s father died in 1889. After this point, Munch spent more time in France. Financially supported by state scholarships, Paris was the most creative and troubled period of Munch’s life.

What is Edvard Munch famous for?

Edvard Munch art is famous for its emotional and psychological intensity. While living in Paris, Munch started a series of paintings titled the Frieze of Life. This series consisted of 22 works created for a Berlin exhibition held in 1902. Emotive titles include Despair, Melancholy, Anxiety, Jealousy, and The Scream. 

Of course, The Scream (otherwise titled Der Schrei der Natur) is now one of the most recognizable images in the entirety of art.

When displayed to the public, these works (created throughout the 1890s) were an immense success. The exhibition cemented Munch’s name within the art world.

After this point, Munch’s mental health improved. He became happier and more outgoing. The excessive drinking, worry, and family misfortune marking his early life faded into memory.

What type of artist was Edvard Munch?

Edvard Munch was an intensely private and enigmatic artist. His artistic style varied greatly, often depending on Munch’s emotional state when painting.

Sadly, commercial success wasn’t enough to keep Munch’s demons at bay. As the 1900s began, Munch started drinking again. By 1908, he experienced auditory hallucinations. In addition, Munch experienced paralysis on one side of his body.

After collapsing, Munch voluntarily enrolled in a private sanitarium. Here, he regained his mental health and drank less. Then, eager to return to work, Munch checked out in 1909.

Nonetheless, most of his great works appeared during the 1890s. So while Munch created several landscape works in later life, they aren't well-known today.

Munch then moved to the countryside outside Oslo, where he lived alone. He almost died from the influenza pandemic of 1918-19 (that killed artists such as Egon Schiele) but survived.

He lived to the age of 81, drying on 23 January 1944. Munch passed away in his country home in Ekely.

He continued painting right up to his death, however. Like Munch’s earlier works, these later paintings (for instance, By the Window) depicted Munch’s deteriorating physical health and mental state.

Why is The Scream painting famous?

The Edvard Munch painting The Scream is famous for its unique depiction of human emotion. Created in 1893, it symbolizes anxiety like no other work of art.

Speaking of the painting, Munch described walking at sunset. He saw the clouds turn “blood red” and heard an “infinite scream” passing through nature. Scholars also believe the painting could be a reaction to Munch’s sister entering a mental asylum earlier that year.

In addition to its artistic brilliance, The Scream by Munch is also famous for its value. In May 2012, the painting sold at Sotheby’s (New York) for $199 million. This figure was a record-breaking price for modern art.

How many Munch Screams are there?

As with many Edvard Munch paintings, he produced various versions of The Scream. There are four scream versions in total. These consist of two images created in tempera and two drawings.

Munch also created a lithograph of the composition. While it’s uncertain how many prints emerged, scholars estimate around 30 editions.

Six editions (including one hand-colored by Munch) hang in the Munch Museum in Oslo.

Is The Scream still missing?

In 1994, The Scream by Munch disappeared from its museum display. Recovered three months later, it reappeared (undamaged) in a hotel in Asgardstrand.

Today, all four major versions of The Scream remain in museum collections. These institutions include the Oslo National Gallery (home to the best-known version), the Munch Museum of Oslo (home to two versions), and a private collection.

This latter version (the most colorful of the four) is the painting sold in 2012 for $199 million.

What are the two famous artworks of Edvard Munch?

In addition to The Scream, two Edvard Munch famous oil paintings include The Kiss (1897) and Vampire or Love and Pain (1893).

Edvard Munch The Kiss exemplifies Munch’s thematic artworks. He showed the painting as part of his Frieze of Life series. This collection of artworks dealt with themes of death, sex, love, anxiety, jealousy, and the stages of human life.

The Kiss is particularly significant given Munch’s personal life. He never married and had a profoundly ambivalent attitude to romance. While he almost married a woman named Tulla Larsen, Munch was indecisive and retreated from the relationship.

In this painting, the figures merge into one unified whole. Their faces and bodies blur in one inseparable, loving, all-consuming mass.

Painted four years earlier, Vampire demonstrates Munch’s troubled relationship with love and sex. While some art historians believe it refers to Munch’s visits to brothels, others think it’s a macabre fantasy about his sister’s death. Munch said it simply showed a woman tenderly kissing a man.

Edvard Munch Art: High Quality Oil Paintings

If you love the beauty and emotional intensity of Edvard Munch art, explore our extensive collection of replica paintings. From famous oil paintings such as The Scream by Munch to his lesser-known early works, you’ll find art to enrich your life and your walls.