| Edvard Munch, the Norwegian painter and printmaker that perhaps is best known for his iconic painting entitled the "Scream" was born on December 12, 1863. He was born in Loten, Norway, and grew up in the city that is now known as Oslo, the capital. Munch is considered a major influence on the development of German Expressionism during the early part of the 20th century. His work has been said to include symbolism relating to sickness, death and human misery. He studied art under a Norwegian naturalist painter named Christian Krohg. Munch witnessed the deaths of his parents, a brother and a sister while he was still a young boy. Many people think that led to the bleakness that is evident in much of his work. This includes paintings such as The Sick Child, Ashes and the Vampire. Munch went to Paris in 1885 and his art began to reflect the influence of French painters of the time. Munch recoiled from conventional behavior and he took part in a controversial exhibit in Berlin. Munch returned to Norway after 1910 where he resided, always painting, until his death. His later works seemed less pessimistic and were far more colorful. He died in Ekely, which is near Oslo, on January 23, 1944. The city of Oslo built a museum in his honor which houses many of his works.
Munch Edvard (1863–1944) is a Norwegian painter, graphic artist, theatrical artist and one of the founders of expressionism. Munch was born in Loten in southern Norway on December 12, 1863 and grew up in Oslo (Kristiania). His father was a military doctor and was a great believer of God. When the future artist was still a child, his mother and elder sister died due to consumption. Illness, suffering, death were the themes, to which Munch regularly came back through out his creative period were familiar to him since early childhood.
At the age of 17, Munch took attended the Royal school of Art and Design; within two years of education, he was involved in art and literary circles of Kristiania that shocked society with frank pictures of the life of the bohemia. Subjects, picked up by the artist in this medium, have appeared later on in his series The Frieze of Life. According to the author’s message, each picture of this cycle should represent the helplessness of a person before the indifferent forces of life, love and death.
In 1889 Munch reached Paris, where he got acquainted with new directions in painting – post-impressionism and the upcoming modern style. In 1892 the artist participated in a big exhibition in Berlin, but his paintings were received with controversy. In Germany, Munch mastered etching techniques and in Paris he experimented with lithographs and engraving on wood, in which he widely used the underlining method of wood texture, characteristic for Paul Gauguin. In engraving and lithograph, Munch embodied the same subjects, as in painting, but with much bigger energy, force and originality. His engravings, perhaps, were the greatest achievement of the artist.
The relationship of men and women has become the central theme in the creativity of Munch. The woman in his works appears in various images: as an idealized image of a girl, as a personification of an erotic female or as a psychic authoritative mother-death.
In 1908, having achieved wide fame and popularity in Norway, Munch went through strong emotional shock, due to alcoholism and bitter quarrels with friends. Having spent eight months in a sanatorium near Copenhagen, he returned back to Norway and lived in the suburbs of Oslo. The sale of engravings and big orders for monumental decorations of public buildings provided stable income to Munch. He continued to paint pictures on themes, developed still in youth and quieter landscapes till his death on January 23, 1944 in Ekely, near Oslo.
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December 12 is the birthday of the famous Norwegian expressionist painter Edvard Munch who is best known for his Scream painting. Kids nowadays may not know the Scream painting, but they surely know the Scream movie mask which was modeled after the Scream painting. So when kids see Munch's Scream painting for the first time in school, they ask their teacher, "How did this guy get away with ripping off the Scream movie mask?"
