Edvard Munch

Edvard Munch
December 12, 1863 - January 23, 1944

Edvard Munch is best known for his painting, The Scream
(originally called Despair).
Although I do love that painting, it's not my favorite.

Munch was born in Ådalsbruk, Norway, and grew up in Kristiania (now Oslo). He was related to painter Jacob Munch and historian Peter Andreas Munch.



He lost his mother, Laura Cathrine Munch, née Bjølstad, to tuberculosis in 1868, his older and favorite sister Sophie to the same disease in 1877. Ultimately his father, Christian Munch, died young, as well, in 1889. Munch also had a brother, Peter Andreas and two younger sisters. After their mother's death, the Munch siblings were raised by their father, who instilled in his children a deep-rooted fear by repeatedly telling them that if they sinned in any way, they would be doomed to hell without chance of pardon. One of Munch's younger sisters was diagnosed with mental illness at an early age. Munch himself was also often ill. Of the five siblings only Andreas married, but he died a few months after the wedding. He would later say, "Sickness, insanity and death were the angels that surrounded my cradle and they have followed me throughout my life." A number of modern sources have described Munch's illness as probably being bipolar disorder.

Madonna



Dance of Life