Edvard Munch

Birth: December 12, 1863

  Death: January 23, 1944

Edvard Munch is a Norwegian born expressionist painter. His best-known work, The Scream, has become one of the most iconic images of world art. In the late 20th century, he played a great role in German expressionism and the art form that later followed; namely because of the strong mental anguish that was displayed in many of the pieces that he created.Edvard Munch was born in Norway in 1863, and was raised in Christiania (known as Oslo today). He was related to famous painters and artists in their own right, Jacob Munch (painter), and Peter Munch (historian). Only a few years after he was born, Edvard Munch's mother died of tuberculosis in 1868, and he was raised by his father. Edvard's father suffered from mental illness, and this played a role in the way he and his siblings were raised. Their father raised them with the fears of deep-seated issues, which is part of the reason why the work of Edvard Munch took a deeper tone, and why the artist was known to have so many repressed emotions as he grew up.

In 1885, Edvard Munch traveled to Paris, and was extremely influenced by Impressionist such as Claude Monet, Neo-Impressionist Georges Seurat, and followed by the Post-Impressionists Vincent van Gogh, Paul Cezanne, and Paul Gauguin. In fact, the main style of Munch's work is post-impressionism, and focused on this style.(Edvard Munch. (n.d.). Retrieved March 15, 2024, from https://www.edvardmunch.org/)