During spring break last year, my family and I had the opportunity to explore Oslo, Norway. The capital resonates deeply with its Viking heritage, architecture, and beauty, allowing us to immerse ourselves in the city’s history and landscape. Our visit to Oslo was particularly memorable due to a trip to The National Museum and the Munch Museum, dedicated to the life and artistic legacy of Norwegian painter, Edvard Munch.
Born in Norway to an aristocratic family in 1863, Edvard Munch grappled with illness from an early age, enduring the loss of his mother and sister to tuberculosis. Munch’s early life would profoundly influence his later artistic expression (Azeem). Munch categorized his paintings into themes including ‘Death’ and ‘Self,’ seeking to use art as a means to express his inner thoughts and universal experiences. His artwork, distinguished by contrasting lines and somber colors, expressed not only his state of mind, but all “living beings who breathe and feel and suffer and love” (Munch).
Edvard Munch, The Sick Child, 1885–1886. Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo.
Walking through the various galleries, I found myself less intrigued by the most iconic paintings such as The Scream and The Dance of Life. Instead, I was more drawn to the relatively lesser-known works. “The Sick Child” portrays Munch’s fifteen-year-old sister Johanne Sophie on her deathbed, and a grieving woman by her side. The painting presents death as a prolonged process that deeply impacts an entire family. The green color of the walls symbolizes sickness and the space evokes a sense of claustrophobia. As the viewer looks at the painting, forceful brushstrokes intensify the colors, creating a contrast with the child’s pallid complexion.
Edvard Munch, Night in Saint-Cloud, 1890. Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo
In “Night in Saint-Cloud,” light seeps through a window, illuminating the room. Munch depicts a man gazing out the window with minimal detail, imbuing him with mystery and prompting viewers to speculate about his identity and emotions. Rather than portraying the intricacies of the room, Munch blurs the specifics. His use of graphite pencil creates a hazy atmosphere, enhancing feelings of loneliness and longing. The man’s attire matches the couch and his hat blends into the wall paper; he seamlessly merges into his surroundings.
Munch, Edward, Sick Mood at Sunset: Despair, 1892. Thielska Galleriet, Sweden
I also found “Sick Mood at Sunset: Despair” particularly powerful. The painting captures a solitary figure gazing into the fjord and city. The slight downward tilt of his chin and the sky, awash in shades of red and yellow, enhance the figure’s emotional exhaustion. Below, a bridge spans a fjord, the shadows and an elevated vantage point of the landscape reinforce the depth of the figure’s thoughts. Two men walk past the main figure, their indifference highlighting his solitude at the forefront. The separation between the figures in the background and the figure in the front suggests a theme of individual sorrow against collective indifference. Though Munch aimed to depict his own emotional state, the painting’s themes resonate universally. The purposeful lack of facial features allows the audience to interpret the subject’s emotions, allowing all types of viewers to connect with the painting on a deeper level.
I left for Oslo with deep respect and admiration for Munch’s artworks. Visiting the Munch Museum helped me understand the backstory of each artwork and the emotions behind Munch’s paintings. Munch’s artworks serve as windows into an artist’s physical pain and psychological suffering, universal human experiences audiences can connect to. They reflect the moments of anxiety and fear that are at some point a part of everyone’s life. Nearly eighty years after Munch’s passing, his work continues to captivate, and affect, people worldwide.
Works Cited
Azeem, Hina. “The Art of Edvard Munch: A Window onto a Mind.” BJPsych Advances, vol. 21, no 1, 2015, pp. 51–53. doi: 10.1192/apt.bp.114.012963. Accessed 21 March 2024 .