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Edvard Munch - Self Portrait with Skeleton Arm
- 1895
Artist: Edvard Munch
(1863-1944)
Style: German Expressionist
Edvard Munch was a Norwegian German Expressionist /
Expressionist painter who helped pioneer the artistic print making
process. Munch was born December 12, 1863 in Adalsbruk, Norway and
resided in Oslo for much of his early and later life. Munch's
mother, Laura Cathrine Bjolstad passed away due to tuberculosis in
1868 and he then also lost his sister Johanne Sophie Munch to it in 1877.
Edvard Munch's father, Christian Munch died at an early age as well in the
year 1889. After Edvard's mother's death he was raised by his very
strict and religious father who raised him under very strict and religious
convictions. In addition to death, mental illness also plagued Munch's
family. Both he and one of his sisters suffered with varying degrees of
it. Munch was at one time quoted saying that "sickness, insanity and
death were the angels that surrounded my cradle and they have followed me
throughout my life." Many modern sources have described Munch's mental
illness as severe depression and possible bipolar disorder. In 1880,
Edvard Munch had left college to become a painter. In 1881 he enrolled at
the Royal School of Art and Design of Kristiania Norway. His prominent
teachers at the Royal School of Art and Design were Christian Krohg and
Julius Middelthun. In 1885 Munch studied art in Paris and his work began
began to resemble the work of the popular impressionists and
postimpressionists of the time. Soon after Munch made the leap to the
expressionist art style and today is often regarded as one of the fathers
of the art form. In 1892 Munch's art went on display in Berlin where his
paintings instigated controversy at the show and after just one week the
his art exhibition closed. Between 1892 and 1905 Munch spent much of his
time in both Germany and France where he became famous for his prints,
etchings, and his woodcuts. During this time Munch became a very
popular and well received artist in Germany. Munch died on January 23,
1944 in Norway. As a legacy he left behind over a thousand paintings
and over twenty thousand prints and drawings to the city of Oslo which
later built the Munch Museum to honor him. Today Munch paintings are
highly celebrated and collected world round. Several of his works
has made the news when they were stolen from the Munch museum in Norway.
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