Edvard Munch  (Norwegian, 1863-1944) 

Edvard Munch (Norwegian, 1863–1944) was a painter and printmaker credited as the founding father of the Expressionist movement. Born in Oslo, Munch’s childhood was plagued by a series of tragic events—the deaths of his mother and sister at a young age, and a younger sister diagnosed with mental disabilities—which would later influence the emotive nature of his work. Munch’s artistic development began at the Royal Academy of Drawing in Oslo, where he studied under Christian Krohg (Norwegian, 1852–1925). The artist’s initial work in printmaking and painting was influenced by a French Realist aesthetic. In 1885, Munch traveled to Paris, where he created one of his earliest and most celebrated works, The Sick Child (1885-1886), dedicated to his sister Sophie who died of tuberculosis at the age of 15. The piece moved away from Realist sensibilities, incorporating gritty emotion that would later typify the ideals of Expressionist art.

After his brief trip to France, Munch returned to Oslo, and later traveled once again to Paris in 1889 to study under Léon Joseph Florentin Bonnat (French, 1833–1922). At this point, the Post-Impressionist movement dominated the Parisian art scene, but Munch continued to explore Expressionism and its ability to manifest in real form the emotions of his childhood, as well as growing issues with alcoholism and failed romance. In 1892, while living in Berlin, Munch's work became famous when it was banned from the Verein Berliner Künstler exhibition, as it was considered an anarchistic provocation. Shortly following his newfound fame, Munch unveiled the most important work of his career, The Scream (1893). Considered a prime example of Expressionist art, the painting represented Munch's own neuroses, combined with fin-de-siècle anxiety felt throughout Europe. Munch's continued success after the turn of the century would cause further issues in his personal life, which would in turn influence his work. He carried out the rest of his carrier in Norway, painting landscape scenes and exploring the bounds of Expressionism. Before he passed away in 1944, the artist left his biographical notes to the city of Oslo, which created the Munch Museum in 1963. The artist's work is a part of major collections throughout the world, such as the National Gallery in Oslo, the Kunsthaus in Zurich, and the Tate Modern in London.