ARTIST CASE STUDY - EDVARD MUNCH

ARTIST CASE STUDY - EDVARD MUNCH

The Scream, 1893. Oil, tempera and pastel and crayon on cardboard. 91 x 73.5 cm. National Art Gallery, Oslo, Norway.

Structural frame

The work was created by combining oil paint, tempera, pastel and crayon on a cardboard surface. A striking feature of the artwork is its fluidity, due to Munchs manipulation of line. Munch applies strong brush strokes in the curved distorted and straight lines, which serve as vectors towards the screaming figure in the foreground. The bold lines course through the individual and to form it. The straight lines forming the railings and the jetty provide a contrast to the distorted lines forming the landscape, dissociating the screaming figure from man-made society. The organic lines, with their strong associations of movement, appear to allow the scream to resonate, metaphorically rendering the artwork a medium in which sound can travel. Munchs colour choice and appreciation of light also defines the artwork. The scene in the lower two-thirds of the painting is generally gloomy as the use of blue, black and grey shades suggests despair and sadness. The vivacious orange and red tones intensifies the colour palette in the painting, creating a chaotic atmosphere and communicating the figures distress and anguish.Light is also vital in identifying the face as the focal point of the picture, as it is pale while its surroundings are dark. Sunlight seems to be at its highest intensity where the two background figures are situated. The balance in composition is visible in the cold colours which appear to balance the warm colours used to depict the sky, and the contrast of straight lines with curved lines. The work is now in the collection of the National Art Gallery, Oslo, Norway. It was exhibited behind security glass since its theft in 1994, in which it was returned a few weeks later.

Cultural frame

The work was created in 1893, and appears to be based on personal events in Munchs life. In a diary entry in 1892, Munch writes he was "walking along a path with two friends - the sun was setting - suddenly the sky turned blood red... I stood there trembling with anxiety - I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature." It can also be interpreted as Munchs response to his personal circumstances. In Munchs childhood, he suffered the sadness of losing his mother and sister to tuberculosis, and his father at the age of twenty-five. His sister Laura soon was committed to a mental institution due to having been diagnosed as a manic depressive. Munchs horror of the insanity which had afflicted her sister may have been expressed in The Scream. Themes of death and depression can be identified with the area portrayed, as many suicides had been committed there, and within the vicinity were a slaughterhouse and an old mental asylum for women, hence the artwork entitled The Scream. The work was painted during a transitional period in art history, after the end of the Realist era. Since the work conveys the raw inner feelings of the artist, it perhaps helped to ignite the beginnings of the Expressionist movement.

Subjective frame

The work is almost instantly appealing as it expresses Munchs uninhibited, potent emotions. The techniques also attract attention as Munchs contrast between the free-flowing, contorted lines and the rigidity of the jetty. The work invokes insight and confronts the viewer by requiring them to ponder the nature of the artwork. The genderless, distorted figure embodies a sense of horror, suffering depression, thus representing various elements of the human condition. The artwork is relevant to the theme as it evokes curiosity from the audience, as the scene and the protagonist are inexplicable and arguably unnatural. The Scream also documents Munchs recorded experience of sensing an infinite scream passing through nature as an artwork, and is an autobiographical medium through which Munch expressed feelings of indescribable sadness, pain and agony, as well as being representative of his internal struggle to retain his sanity or submit to madness.

Anxiety, 1894. Oil on canvas. 94.0 x 74.0 cm. Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway.Structural frame

The work is an oil painting on canvas. The continuity and organicity of line is apparent. Although it shares many elements with The Scream, the line and stroke appear to be more refined, perhaps due to Munchs use of only one material (oil paint). Munch has again repeated his use of dark, funereal hues in the lower two-thirds of the artwork, which is sharply contrasted with the vibrant shades of yellow and orange in the sky. In Munchs manipulation of line, unlike The Scream, very little straight line has been used and the curved line of the landscape dominates the artwork. The concentrically enlarging lines and their soft edges appear to embrace the natural landscape, however ultimately have the effect of alienating the mass of people on the jetty. The same Oslo fjord represented in The Scream recurs in this painting. The painted faces are blurred, and towards the end of the line become indistinguishable, with the shade of green perhaps used to represent the afflictions suffered collectively by all members of humanity.

Cultural frame

This work was created in 1894. It is an existentialist work, similar to The Scream, in and Munch similarly expresses the fundamental experiences of humanity. Munch aimed to depict "people behind their masks - smiling, phlegmatic - composed faces - ...along a twisted road - at the end of which was the grave." The dark mass of figures along the expanse of the jetty, with their mask-like faces, ironically appear to be experience a sense of seclusion that was gradually becoming naturalised as an element of life in the modern urban environment. Subjective frame

The work is interesting. The element that draws the audiences attention first, if they are familiar with some works of Edward Munch, will be that it appears to be closely related to The Scream, in terms of ideas conveyed and the structural frame. The main difference that can be noted is while The Scream depicts a suffering individual, Anxiety represents the sufferings of a mass of people. An interesting possibility is that Munch was attempting to present angst as central to human plight, by sustaining the message of despair that was previously depicted in The Scream. Although the message is not as distinctive as the emotions of pain and desperation are applied to a group, rather than an isolated individual, it could be more accessible as it refers to a wider audience. The jetty also seems to represent a point of no return, in which anxious humanity is pressed forward towards an inevitable conclusion, which is perhaps death, and this thought gives the artwork an ominous quality.The balance of the colour palette is also very attractive. Anxiety is relevant to the theme as it evokes curiosity by representing depressed humans in an abnormal, alien-like form, against an unnaturally vivid background, drawing the audience to question the meanings of the artwork. It also represents the same memory of the Oslo fjord view that is depicted in The Scream.

Jealousy, 1895. Oil on canvas. 67.0 x 100 cm. Rasmus Meyer Collection, Bergen, Norway.

Structural frame

The work is an oil painting on canvas. In this artwork, Munch emphasises elements such as colour, shape and structural features to give it a symbolic context. Darkness is emphasised in the foreground of the picture, where Munch portrays his poet friend Stainslaw Przybyszewski expressing gloominess and jealousy towards Munchs amorous relationship with the poets wife, Dagny Juell. His frustration and mourning at betrayal and loss in evident in the black attire that Munch has chosen to adorn him with. Dagny is painted under what could be seen as a biblical reference to the Tree of Knowledge, in which she is depicted as Eve. The scarlet on her face and in the garment she wears is symbolic of sin and impurity, and the exposure of her naked front reveals the truth hidden by the lies. This sensuous redness is reflected in the face of the metaphorical Adam, who most likely is Munch, the apple being picked by Eve and the potted plant. The reference effectively displays temptation and betrayal, by alluding to Adam and Eves betrayal of God. This redness is juxtaposed to the colorless features of Przybyszewski. Shape is also controlled to describe the narrative of the painting. Triangular imagery is evident in many aspects of the painting - the pointed face to Przybyszewksi, the womans shoulder and underneath the left arm. the formation of apples under her outstretched right arm, the lines of the womans pubis and the potted plant in front of the door. This helps to reinstate the charged triangular situation of the relationship portrayed in the artwork. Structural features are also evident, in the definition of picture planes by the artist. The foreground is occupied by Przybyszewski, the middle plane by the tree and the door to Eden, while the biblical reference occurs in the distant space within the picture. This emphasises the distance between the poet and his wife in the relationship.

Cultural frame

This work was created in 1895. The circumstances of the artworks making was the affair that Munch had with the Dagny Juell, the wife of Stainislaw Przybyszewski, his poet friend. He depicts the envious reservations that Przybyszewski must have held, as well as his discomfort due to his wifes betrayal. Thematically, his painting is a narrative which holds a biblical allegory of Adam and Eves betrayal towards God (symbolic of Dagnys betrayal of her legitimate marital relationship with Przybyszewski) and the temptation of the affair, represented by Eve picking the apple. Munch deviates from the original version in which Adam and Eve were nude, to restate the theme in a contemporary context while the clothed figures also suggest that the innocence of the original sinners has been seized from the two. The temptation could have also been symbolic of Munchs conflicting feelings of attraction, confusion and fear towards women; desire is tinged with melancholy and anxiety. Jealousy can be linked to the 1890 Art Nouveau style.

Subjective frame

The artwork is interesting as Munch cleverly represents a personal narrative by using a biblical allegory and referring to the triangular relationship in terms of Adam and Eves betrayal and temptation. The use of colour to symbolise various aspects within the narrative is also intriguing. The gloominess of Przybyszewski in contrast to the sensuality of the background effectively portrays the betrayal and jealousy felt by the brooding foreground figure. Jealousy is relevant to the theme as again, it is an autobiographical recount of the affair that Munch had with Dagny, in which Munch depicts himself as Adam in modern dress. It also represents trace in Munchs portrayal of Przybyszewski so that he is recognisable as a character within the artwork narrative, with his distinctive bearded features, while a lack of trace, perhaps intentional, is also visible where Munch keeps the identities of Adam and Eve inconspicuous (unless the context is understood), with imperceptible features to preserve the obscurity of the relationship.