MUNCH – serie

"Then the voice from nowhere carried on talking about Munch, like my mother of all people knew about Munch, like she knew I was looking at a picture right now, like she knew about the power crisis and the international unrest and the climate ruination in a world she’d left thirty years ago. Like she knew it all."In Ali Smith’s So in the Spruce Forest, the author’s deceased mother returns as a persistent voice, intent on sharing with her daughter insights into Edvard Munch’s intense renderings of trees and stones charged with life. Through an imaginative essayistic format, Smith weaves together probing visual analyses, personal stories and reflections on ecology and politics, linking Munch’s art to both the present moment and other realities.

The jarring emptiness following the loss of a loved one, the expansive out-of-body sensation of sensual touch, the lassitude of melancholy and the ecstatic receptivity to sunshine. His ability to capture and convey sensation and feelings through the materials of art, places the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863–1944) at the forefront of European art at the turn of the last century.Interestingly, Munch’s artistic exploration of perception, and his persistent questioning of the objectivity of vision, intersect with ideas that matured within the fields of psychology and experimental optics at the time.Edvard Munch: Inner Fire examines these connections, demonstrating his continuing exploration of the conditions of sight. The essays in this catalogue examine this phenomenon while also probing a lesser-known aspect of the artist’s work: Munch’s relationship to Italy.The first essay, Lasse Jacobsen’s ‘Edvard Munch. Italian Impressions’, explores this connection explicitly, as part of a general overview of Munch’s life and work.The second text, ‘Reflections in Munch’s Inner Eye’ by Patricia G. Berman, charts the art historical context of Munch’s exploration of experience’s subjective dimension. Emil Leth Meilvang’s ‘Seeing without Sight. Munch’s Vision’, on its part, explores the relationship between Munch’s artistic development and simultaneous developments within the perceptual sciences. Edvard Munch. Inner Fire includes essayistic pieces by authors Melania G. Mazzucco and Hanne Ørstavik: ‘I am a Romantic’ and ‘Who Am I’. Each demonstrates Munch’s continuing ability to light the inner fires of other artists.

A gem of a book that stays with you long after you have finished it. Edvard Munch wrote continuously; letters, diaries, literary texts and other notes. In Like a Ghost I Leave You you will find striking statements about art versus nature, enemies, money, death and much more. - "Had I been in Possession of the as yet undiscovered little Remote telephone which one carries around in one’s Pocket You would have long ago received Communications from me"- Undated draft of a letter to Jens Willumsen.

Burst! Abstract Painting After 1945 looks at the close, but previously unexplored relationship between Abstract Expressionism and Art Informel. Through texts and close to 100 illustrations, the book describes a vital creative exchange across the Atlantic that would entirely redefine painting. Big, expansive, paint-splattered surfaces; spontaneous actions captured on canvas; new ideas of freedom. A story of post-war recovery and Transatlantic dialogue. On both sides of the ocean, society was reacting to the horrors of the Second World War, the Holocaust and the coming of the atom bomb. The book shows how artists searched for new ways to deal with these shattering events. With works by Jean Dubuffet, Natalia Dumitresco, Helen Frankenthaler, Asger Jorn, Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Sam Francis, Joan Mitchell, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Barnett Newman, Georges Mathieu, Hedda Sterne and Clyfford Still, and more.

What was the meaning of the extraordinary collection of texts, sketches and graphic prints that Edvard Munch called The Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil? Get a glimpse into the artist's world of ideas through one of the greatest mysteries he left behind. In this book you can experience The Tree of Knowledge as it was found in Munch's home, with both loose, bound and blank pages. An essay by art historian Nora Ceciliedatter Nerdrum provides new perspectives on Munch's most enigmatic project. No one knows why he created this album. Was it a book proposal? Or was it an attempt to organise his ideas?What we do know is that he worked on the album for several decades, and that it was probably never completed. The most astonishing part of its content is perhaps Munch’s own texts about love, jealousy, life and death, composed in large, colourful lettering.

Edvard Munch’s pictures capture all facets of human existence. This book gathers a selection of highlights, from The Scream and Madonna to Vampire, Melancholy and The Sick Child.

Ever since Munch first came up with the Scream motif at the end of the 19th century, countless artists, including Andy Warhol and Marina Abramović, have modified it within their own work. In addition, the open-mouthed figure has cropped up in popular cultural productions such as Wes Craven’s Scream film franchise, the poster for the kids’ movie Home Alone, and in scores of satirical cartoons – on everything from Brexit to Donald Trump’s presidency and tax rises – as well as on innumerable political banners and placards, most recently in protests about the climate emergency. In recent years, the Scream image has also taken a prominent place on digital screens in the form of its own emoji and as the basis of countless memes. At the same time, the quantity of souvenirs and other objects decorated with or shaped like Munch’s figure of desperation has increased immeasurably. In short: these days The Scream haunts pretty much every layer of culture. It is without doubt one of the most frequently reproduced images in the history of art, equalled only perhaps by Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, and is the originator of a constantly expanding network of analogue and digital mutations. Via these three texts, and a rich selection of illustrations – including all known Scream images ever made by the artist himself, a selection of his Scream texts and countless so-called Scream mutations – this book embraces Munch’s best-known image as a cultural phenomenon.

Francisco de Goya and Edvard Munch revolutionised art through their groundbreaking pairing of raw realism and unique imaginative power. Exploring inner worlds and existential questions, they had a formative impact on art history and our understanding of our times.The book is published in conjunction with the exhibition Goya and Munch: Modern Prophecies, the first comprehensive presentation of these two artists in tandem. It is lavishly illustrated with reproductions of all the exhibited works and features texts by Trine Otte Bak Nielsen, Manuela B. Mena Marqués, Janis Tomlinson, Ute Kuhlemann Falck and Ask Salomon Selnes.

Munch’s Missing! Find the artist hidden in 12 vibrant illustrated scenes which are inspired by the artist’s life, and the themes in his art. Spot him on the hill where he famously heard that resounding scream; find him hidden on stage amongst actors performing an Ibsen play, and search him out in the forest near his home in Ekely. Every scene is jammed with artists and creatives who have been influenced by Munch.While the magical illustrations by Celyn Brazier offer a playful introduction to the artist, they are a unique piece of art in themselves. Accompanying text opens up the stories behind the illustrations, and explores further Munch’s life and art, and the influence he had. This raucous art journey celebrates the startling relevance of Munch who brought us the selfie and liberated us to scream out!

Edvard Munch, the old painter, thinks he is living alone. But one day, he makes a curious discovery: he's sharing his house with a mouse called Storm, who dreams of becoming an artist, just like him. A Mouse in Munch's House is about their shared adventures in search of the perfect picture. Together they explore a hidden bar inside a piano, visit a bug exhibition under Munch's bathtub and encounter a quirky pest controller. A midnight trip to an art museum run by mice even leads to a daring art heist!Pjotr Sapegin's delightful and heart-warming tales are loosely inspired by Edvard Munch's life, and invite children to explore the magic of art, fun and friendship. Perfect for young readers aged 6 to 12 who are ready to embark on a colourful adventure with an unlikely duo: a tall, lanky artist and his tiny, furry apprentice.

Edvard Munch (1863–1944) is one of the most influential figures in modern art. His career spanned more than 60 years, from his debut in the 1880s right up until his death in 1944. Munch was part of the Symbolist movement in the 1890s and was a key forerunner of the Expressionist movement that emerged at the start of the 20th century. His continually experimental approach to painting, printmaking, drawing, sculpture and photography earned him a unique position in Norwegian and international art history. Munch bequeathed almost all the artworks in his possession at the time of his death to the City of Oslo. This bequest, which comprised approximately 26,500 original works, became the basis of the Munch Museum’s collection. The museum opened in 1963, one hundred years after Munch’s birth. Today the collection includes more than half of all Munch’s paintings and examples of almost all his original prints.This book contains posters of 16 paintings that were of crucial importance in Edvard Munch’s artistic career, accompanied by brief but informative texts. Iconic images such as The Scream, Madonna and The Vampire are just some of the pictures you can hang on your wall.

Georg Baselitz has been exploring, challenging and redefining contemporary art for over six decades, mainly via the medium of paint. A cornerstone of this task has been his complex exchange with historical and contemporary art. Georg Baselitz: Feet First illuminates the German artist’s relationship to the art of Edvard Munch, which he has been in artistic dialogue with since the 1960s.This richly illustrated book includes writings by exhi­bition curator Jon-Ove Steihaug, Christian Weikop, Sverre Wyller and Baselitz himself, as well as a longer conversation with the artist.

Sandra Mujinga’s work might offer an indication of the impact of the events of past and present on the future. Although disturbing, this power to ‘sess’, however speculative it might be, should be be treasured as a route to greater insight into the here and now. For every new work, standing on the shoulders of its forebears, Mujinga opens up uncharted vistas of understanding and new routes to reflection.

Over the course of Edvard Munch’s lifetime, discoveries such as X-rays, germ theory, antibiotics and contraception transformed our understanding of the body forever. The exhibition Lifeblood – Edvard Munch places the Norwegian artist at the heart of this dramatic development, juxtaposing his works with skeletons, scalpels, sputum bottles and a range of other objects from the history of modern healthcare.In this book, these objects are given voice and presence through a diverse selection of texts written by art and medical historians, healthcare workers, activists, museum professionals, artists and writers. Each contribution takes works or objects from the exhibition as its point of departure, using them as an entryway into the complex terrain of care. The maps they draw are not the same – and that is precisely the point: medical experience is never uniform, but shaped by each individual’s circumstances and identities.Richly illustrated, with contributions by exhibition curator Allison Morehead and by Fatema Abdoolcarim, Patricia G. Berman, Gemma Blackshaw, Alice Butler, Alison W. Chang, Hege Duckert, Jacalyn Duffin, Signe Endresen, Ute Kuhlemann Falck, Jan Grue, Johanna Hedva, Nora Heidorn, Aurora Hoel, Mary Hunter, Cathrine Knudsen, Cathrine Krøger, Olivia Laing, Ageliki Lefkaditou, Phil Loring, Olaug Nilssen, Kaveh Rashidi, Natasha Ruiz-Gómez, Thorvald Steen, Sara Stridsberg, Espen Stueland and Ingvard Wilhelmsen.

British Portuguese Paula Rego (1935–2022) carved out her place in international art history with a self-possessed, uncompromising expression and a burning commitment to fighting oppression and lack of freedom. She grew up in Portugal under António de Oliveira Salazar’s dictatorship, which imposed strong constraints, especially on women’s freedom, and throughout her long career Rego dissected the relationship between gender, the body and power in a dark, fantastical visual language. At a time when authoritarian forces are on the rise across the world and women’s right to control their own bodies is under pressure, her images feel more relevant than ever. The exhibition Paula Rego – Dance Among Thorns presents Rego’s powerful and unsettling body of work in its full breadth. The catalogue includes all works on display and a collection of new texts by the exhibition’s curator Kari J. Brandtzæg as well as by Catarina Alfaro, Isabel Freire and Jennifer Higgie. Together, they sketch an intense and nuanced portrait of an artist who never ceased to challenge – whether aesthetically or politically.

Edvard Munch’s Freia Frieze was installed in the women’s canteen at the Freia Chocolate Factory in 1923. More than a century later, these twelve paintings are now leaving the factory to be shown at MUNCH in the exhibition Edvard Munch and the Chocolate Factory. This book sheds light on the frieze from new perspectives: Curator Ana María Bresciani puts the works into a social and art-historical context, while author Marta Breen gives voice to the factory’s many female workers. Author Per Petterson writes about his mother, who worked at Freia, and about his own encounter with Munch’s art. Chipo Dendere, an expert on African studies, looks at the historically charged cacao industry, while painting conservators Lina Wulff Flogstad and Mie Mustad provide a rare insight into the conservation work behind the exhibition. The book shows how the Freia Frieze speaks not just about its own time but about ours – about art, work and community.

Edvard Munch was one of Modernism's most significant artists. He was active throughout more than sixty years; from the time he made his debut in the 1880s, right up until his death in 1944. Munch was part of the Symbolist movement in the 1890s, and a pioneer of expressionist art from the beginning of the 1900s onward. His tenacious experimentation within painting, graphic art, drawing, sculpture, photo and film has given him a unique position in Norwegian as well as international art history. For the first time you can experience Munch's most famous works of art as 3D pop-ups. The book showcases The Women on the Bridge, Woman with Poppies, The Building of the Winter Studio, Children in the Forest, The Yellow Log and the iconic Scream accompanied by explanatory texts and sketches by Munch."The sheer effortlessness of Ersland's prose allows his words to move wherever they like - through images, into Munch's life and out into the world." Karl Ove Knausgaard

Edvard Munch (1863-1944) was a visionary and obsessive artist who would not rest until he had captured human existence in its entirety, both in its beauty and in its inner conflicts and contradictions. Today, paintings such as Madonna, The Scream, and Vampire are known worldwide and shared online and on social media in the millions. Munch has become a part of popular culture. This book gives a concise, accessible and illuminating introduction to Munch’s life and art. It is generously illustrated, including a large selection of images from all stages of Munch’s career.

Welcome to the world of Edvard Munch and... You! Step into the studio and play with stencils, lines and patterns, and have fun drawing new characters and scenes while helping the artist finish his paintings. In this book you can discover places and motifs from Edvard Munch’s life and artwork, and bring the pages to life with your own wonderful creations. Have fun, and experiment just like Munch!

"I have an old camera with which I have taken countless photographs of myself. It often produces astonishing effects", Edvard Munch states in a 1930 interview. "Someday when I am old and have nothing better to do than work on an autobiography, all my photographic self-portraits will see the light of day again." The autobiography was never realised, but the self-portraits have found their way to the pages of The Experimental Self. The Photography of Edvard Munch, which demonstrates the fundamentally experimental nature of the artist’s photographic practice. As a photographer, Munch embraced the freedom provided by the amateur position, and the unpredictable aspects of analogue photographic technology. By playfully approaching his own image in picture after picture, Munch extends his explorations of self-hood in other media through photography. The resulting photographs provide unique access to Munch’s radical artistic vision, which this book studies through eminent essays by Patricia G. Berman, Tom Gunning and MaryClaire Pappas.

Edvard Munch wrote his whole life, but most of his texts remained in the drawer. In only an instant, significant voices from a range of different fields – from visual art to music, critique and astrophysics – enter into dialogue with one of these unpublished texts. Through the contributors’ diverse reactions to Munch’s text, the book explores the potential of the sketch-like and unfinished. With contributions by Sumaya Jirde Ali, Arif, Hilde Bøe, Øystein Elgarøy, Marit Grøtta, Nils-Øivind Haagensen, Jeanine El Khawand, Mette Henriette, Felipe 'Fela' Orellana, Manuel Pelmus, Morten Strøksnes, Constance Tenvik, Ahmed Umar, and Gunnhild Øyehaug.

Morten Andersen’s photo book follows the development of a collaborative project between Satyricon’s Sigurd Wongraven and MUNCH. The project explores the intersection between images and music, and so does the photo book. In Andersen’s characteristic visual language, the book documents the visuality of Wongraven’s work process as well as the musicality of Edvard Munch’s images.  The Norwegian band Satyricon was formed in 1991 and is today one of the world’s most famous black metal bands. They have produced work straddling many genres throughout their career and collaborated with well-known artists and ensembles such as Anja Garbarek, Trondheimsolistene, and The Norwegian National Opera Chorus. Now you can experience the band in relation to Norway’s most famous artist – Edvard Munch. The selected works of art draw on existential themes, but also rhythms and waves, which are features we recognise from the world of music. The intersection of Munch’s expressive motifs and Satyricon’s baseline-heavy music creates room for thought and reflection that goes beyond the realm of black metal alone. Just like Munch, Satyricon’s approach is open and inquisitive, constantly evolving.

In this book the five prominent contemporary artists Marlene Dumas, Terje Nicolaisen, Nalini Malani, Georg Baselitz and Tracey Emin have each compiled a personal selection of Edvard Munch’s drawings. Munch drew more or less daily throughout his long life and left behind approximately 7700 drawings. Each of the five selections provide a unique glimpse into this abundant material and is presented together with works by the artists, and an interview in which they reflect on Munch’s drawings and their own art.