I hope that you have enjoyed this series, which began by looking very briefly at Edvard Munch’s extraordinary life, career as an artist, and paintings.
As I explained, my main interest was in trying to assemble and read his Frieze of Life, predominantly paintings which he made during the 1890s, exhibited several times as a series, and among which he lived much of his life.
Many of that series are individually narrative paintings, telling parts of his life story, particularly its emotional turmoil. Although the series stops well short of the crisis which Munch underwent in 1908, and his recovery thereafter, its individual works and the series which they form must be among the most intensely autobiographic paintings by any artist.
In terms of narrative technique, within at least one painting (The Dance of Life, 1899-1900), Munch uses multiplex narrative. The whole series forms a higher-level narrative on top of those individual scenes. Works which depict deep emotional states, like The Scream, come together to compose a visual account of Munch’s life, loves, fears, and anxieties from his childhood in the late 1860s to about 1902.
Here then is a whistlestop tour, uninterrupted by my distracting commentary, of a selection from Munch’s Frieze of Life, followed by two indexes to the articles here.
The first Frieze of Life, exhibited in Berlin in 1895, is detailed in article 1. Subsequent articles show his second version, first exhibited in Berlin in 1902, which is divided into four sections.
Seeds of Love article 2
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Flowering and Passing of Love article 3
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Life Anxiety article 4
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Death article 5
Clik here to view.
Clik here to view.
Index of Paintings, including common synonyms. These are referenced by the painting number cited in each article.
After the Fall (1895) 7 in article 3
Anxiety (1894) article 1, 13 in article 4
Ashes (1895) 7 in article 3
By the Deathbed (1893) 18 in article 5
Dance (c 1900) 4 in article 2
The Dance of Life (1899-1900) 9 in article 3
Dance on the Beach (c 1900) 4 in article 2
Dance on the Shore (c 1900) 4 in article 2
Dead Mother and (her) Child (1897-99) 22 in article 5
Death (1902) 20 in article 5
Death and Life (1893-94) article 1
Death and the Maiden (1893-94) article 1
Death Battle (1893) 18 in article 5
Death in the Sickroom (1893) 19 in article 5
Death Room (1893) 19 in article 5
Evening on Karl Johan (1892) article 1, 14 in article 4
Evening Star (1893) 1 in article 2
Eye in Eye (1894) article 1, 3 in article 2
Fever (1893) 18 in article 5
The Girl and Death (1897-99) 22 in article 5
Golgotha (1900) 16 in article 4
Hands (1893) article 1
Hearse on the Potsdamer Platz (1902) 20 in article 5
Insane Mood (1894) article 1, 13 in article 4
Jealousy (1895) article 1, 10 in article 3
The Kiss (c 1893) article 1, 5 in article 2
Life and Death (1898-99) article 1, 21 in article 5
Love (1894) 6 in article 2
Madonna (1894) article 1, 6 in article 2
Melancholy (1894-96) 12 in article 3
Metabolism (1898-99) article 1, 21 in article 5
Mysticism (1893) article 1
Red and White (1899-1900) 2 in article 2
Red Virginia Creeper (1898-1900) 15 in article 4
Saint Hans Night (1899-1900) 9 in article 3
The Scream (1893) article 1, 17 in article 4
Separation (1896) article 1
Sphinx (1893-95) article 1, 11 in article 3
Starry Night (1893) article 1
Summer Night’s Dream (1893) article 1, 1 in article 2
Vampire (1893) article 1, 8 in article 3
The Voice (1893) article 1, 1 in article 2
Woman in Three Stages (1893-95) article 1, 11 in article 3
Index of People Depicted or Mentioned These are ordered by last name, and referenced by the painting number cited in each article.
Karen Bjølstad (aunt), 16 in article 4, 19 and 22 in article 5
‘Mrs Heiberg’ (alias Millie Thaulow, lover), article 1, 1 in article 2, 7 and 9 in article 3, 14 in article 4
Gunnar Heiberg, 9 and 11 in article 3, 16 in article 4
Christian Krohg (teacher), 12 in article 3, 16 in article 4
Tulla Larsen (lover), 9 in article 3
Andreas Munch (brother), 22 in article 5
Christian Munch (father), 18 and 22 in article 5
Edvard Munch (artist), 22 in article 5
Inger Munch (sister), 19 and 22 in article 5
Laura Munch (née Bjølstad, mother), 22 in article 5
Laura Munch (sister), 19 in article 5
Sophie Munch (sister), 18 and 19 in article 5
Stanislaw Przbyszewski, 10 in article 3, 15 and 16 in article 4
Millie Thaulow (alias ‘Mrs Heiberg’, lover), article 1, 1 in article 2, 7 and 9 in article 3, 14 in article 4
References
Wikipedia.
Collection at Norway’s National Gallery.
The Munch Museum, Oslo.
Wood, Mara-Helen (ed) (1992) Edvard Munch, The Frieze of Life, National Gallery Publications. ISBN 978 1 857 09015 4.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
