Edvard Munch’s Career is Reassessed
in Met Breuer Exhibition
EDVARD MUNCH
November 15, 2017– February 4, 2018
Edvard Munch. Norwegian, Løten 1863–1944, Ekely
Starry Night, 1922–1924
Oil on canvas
47 7/16 × 39 3/8 in. (120.5 × 100 cm)
Munch Museum, Oslo, EM.036
© 2017 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photo © Munch Museum.
Although Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863-1944) attained notoriety early in his career for his haunting depictions of human anxiety and alienation that reflected modern experience, he believed that his artistic breakthrough occurred around 1913 at the age of 50.Throughout his career, Munch regularly revisited subjects from his earlier years, exploring them with renewed inspiration and intensity. Self Portrait:
Between the Clock and the Bed (1940–43) was one of his final such works and it serves as a lens to reassess Munch’s oeuvre. Opening November 15 at The Met Breuer, the exhibition Edvard Munch: Between the Clock and the Bed will feature 43 of the artist’s compositions created over a span of six decades, including 16 self-portraits and works that have never before been seen in the United States.
The exhibition is made possible by Leonard A. Lauder.
It is supported by an Indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.It is organized by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and The Munch Museum, Oslo.
Edvard Munch. Norwegian,
Løten 1863–1944 Ekely
Self Portrait between the Clock and
the Bed, 1940–1943
Oil on canvas
58 7/8 × 47 7/16 in. (149.5 × 120.5 cm)
Munch Museum, Oslo EM.043
© 2017 Artists Rights Society (ARS),
New York. Photo © Munch Museum.
The thematic arrangement of the exhibition will reveal the frequency with which Munch revisited and reworked certain subjects. It will present him as an artist who was as revolutionary in the 20th century, as he was when he made a name for himself in the Symbolist era. Major themes and motifs of Munch’s last paintings can be traced back to his earlier works. Displaying his early and late works together allows visitors to identify innovations in composition, treatment, and technique.
The first canvas in the exhibition—Self Portrait: Between the Clock and the Bed—is also one of the last works the artist painted. It will serve as a touchstone and guide to the other works on view.
This remarkable painting shows the artist’s bedroom, with a door opening to the studio beyond. The artist stands emotionless between the grandfather clock, which—having no face or hands—exists outside of time, and the bed, in which the span of a human’s life takes place.
Fifteen other self-portraits—a category to which Munch returned often—follow the artist’s path from youth to old age. These fascinating “self-scrutinies” as Munch called them are, by turns, documentary, confessional, psychological, and fictionalized.
Seven works in the exhibition will be shown in the United States for the first time: Lady in Black (1891); Puberty (1894); Jealousy (1907); Death Struggle (1915); Man with Bronchitis (1920); Self-Portrait with Hands in Pockets (1925–26), and Ashes (1925). Also on view will be Sick Mood at Sunset, Despair (1892) —the earliest depiction and compositional genesis of The Scream, one of the most recognizable images in modern art—which is being displayed outside of Europe for only the second time in its history.
The exhibition will include many deeply personal works from Munch’s own collection, now held by the Munch Museum, as well as works from institutions and private lenders from around the world. The paintings demonstrate Munch’s liberated, self-assured painting style as well as his technical abilities, including bravura brushwork, innovative compositional structures, the incorporation of visceral scratches and marks on the canvas, and his exceptional use of intense, vibrant color.
ABOUT EDVARD MUNCH
Left: Edvard Munch. Norwegian, Løten 1863–1944, Ekely
Sick Mood at Sunset, Despair, 1892
Oil on canvas
36 1/4 × 26 3/8 in. (92 × 67 cm)
Thielska Galleriet, Sweden
EM.060
© 2017 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
photo © Thielska Galleriet, Sweden, photo by Tord Lund
Born and raised in Norway, Edvard Munch was one of the most celebrated and controversial artists of his generation. With only brief formal training in painting, Munch was largely self-taught. He was a prolific artist, creating approximately 1,750 paintings, 18,000 prints, and 4,500 watercolors, in addition to sculpture, graphic art, theater design, and film.
Munch was associated with the Symbolist and Expressionist movements and their legacies. He exhibited widely throughout Europe, affecting the trajectory of modernism in France, Germany, and Norway. His influence can be seen in the work of such artists as Georg Baselitz, Marlene Dumas, Katharina Grosse, Asger Jorn, Bridget Riley, and Jasper Johns, among others.
Read the full article on Art Market Magazine Issue#38
