Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch was born in Loton, Norway on December 12, 1863. There were five children in all when he was born second. His father was an Army Medical Corps doctor. He moved to Oslo with his family in 1864. His mother and his sister died of tuberculosis. He went to a technical college in 1879, the year after that, he left the college and went to a design school. Edvard Munch was influenced by Christian Krohg and Frits Thaulow. He took freehand and then modeling class. He got a scholarship and went to Paris in 1885. He made the painting "The Sick Child" and many other versions of it when he returned to Oslo. The painting was from his thoughts of his sisters death. He became an impressionist and six of his paintings went to an art show but was terminated because of the feelings he put into them. In 1890 he had Rheumatic Fever for two months. Edvard Munch let his feelings out through his paintings and became an expressionist. He was in an expressionism group called "Der Blaue Reiter" and a group called "Dresden". In 1895 his brother died. He bought a painting from a man, Dr. Maz Linde. In 1904 he made contracts with Bruno Casirer and Commeter so he could sell his work. Munch had a nervous breakdown in 1908. When he recovered he became more imagery and made landscapes. He entered many Exhibitions and had many oil paintings in them. In 1917 a book was published about him. In 1926 his sister Laura died and in 1930 Munch had afflicted eye trouble. He died in 1944 when he was 80.

Excerpt from Art. The World of Art, from Aboriginal to American Pop, Renaissance Masters to Postmodernism.