Edvard Munch: the Ghosts of Vampires and Victims

'I don't paint what I see but what I saw': detail from Edvard Munch's The Sick Child, 1907 version. Photograph: TateNorwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863-1944) created some of the most psychologically compelling paintings in the history of art. His own life was riddled with tragedies--and he articulated them dramatically--and eloquently.

“Like Van Gogh, he [Edvard Munch] wanted to make passionate images of human beings and nature for a secular world, to replace the old religious images....Munch's is a world full of the ultimate human things – sickness, death, sex, fear, desire, hatred and destruction.”

AS Byatt of “The Guardian” has written an excellent piece on how Munch’s work, featured in an exhibit at the Tate Modern, has affected her--and will undoubtedly affect others. It’s an insighful, “don’t miss” article.

Quote of the Day

Edvard Munch in 1933“Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye.. it also includes the inner pictures of the soul.” - Edvard Munch

The Secret History of Munch’s “Scream”

Edvard Munch (1863-1944) - The Scream - 1893 (this version) (click photo for larger image)Munch’s The Scream, an 1895 version of which recently sold for $119.9m at Sotheby’s New York has a surprising and previously undisclosed provenance. Read the story here...