Edvard Munch

From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change

The English used in this article may not be easy for everybody to understand.

You can help Wikipedia by making this page or section simpler.

Edvard Munch [IPA: ɛdvɒ:rt munk] (December 12, 1863 – January 23, 1944) was a Norwegian painter. He also made some prints. He was an expressionist. He is well known for his treatment of fear (worry).His way of seeing things had a large influence on the expressionism of the 20th century. People saw this treatment as being intense.

Munch was ill very often. Some scientists think that he may have suffered from bipolar disorder. (better known as manic depression)

[change] Famous paintings

The Scream (1893; originally called Despair). This is Munch's best-known painting, and is one of the best known images in the world. It is one of the pieces in a series titled The Frieze of Life. In the series Munch explored the themes of life, love, fear, death and melancholy. As with many of his works, he made several versions of the painting. One version was stolen from the Munch-museum in Oslo, Norway, on August 22, 2004, but on August 31, 2006 Norwegian police found it together with another picture that was stolen at the same time, Madonna.

The Frieze of Life themes come back throughout Munch's work. These themes can be seen in paintings such as The Sick Child (1886, portrait of his deceased sister Sophie), (1893–94), Ashes (1894), and The Bridge. The last-named shows limp figures. Those figures have faces witth no features, or they have no faces at all. Threatening shapes of heavy trees and houses are above the figurss. Munch portrayed women either as frail, innocent sufferers or as lurid, life-devouring vampires. Munch analysts say this reflects his sexual anxieties.