A Founder of Expressionism

Edvard Munch (1863-1944) studied the Frenchman's works in Paris.  His early work was impressionistic, but during the 1890s he abandoned his light palette and lively subject matter in favor of more somber style that reflected a growing preoccupation with anguish, fear, and death.

Born in Norway, Munch began his career painting in a more conventional manner but soon became interested in the work of Vicent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin.  Instead of painting the world around him, he began to seek to express his innermost feelings and desire through his art.  The frenetic energy and simmering passions of his intense paintings made him a founder of the style known as expressionism, in which emotive distortions and exaggerated colors are used to achieve maximum expressiveness.  

The theme of Munch's works can be summed up as fear of life and death, of being imprisoned in an oppressive, frightening world in which serenity, light and human freedom have no place.  Violet and dark blue colors dominate his palette.  Physical objects are reduced more and more to symbolic forms.  In 1908 Munch suffered a physical collapse.  After a long illness he became able to confront life in a new, more positive spirit.  This is reflected in a stylistic change.  His colors became lighter.  His palette included light blue, red, and a bright green.  A monumental element also appeared and persisted to the end.

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