Artist Edvard Munch: works, biography

The artist, whose work in the West is put on a par with Geogen and Cezanne, is not very well known in Russia. The genius, who was considered the creator of a new era and wrote gloomy pictures about death, suffered from nervous breakdowns, from which he was treated.

In his youth he said that the day would come when all his hats would be removed in front of his canvases, as if in a church, but before public recognition he was still very far away. "Without my pictures, I'm nothing," Edvard Munch once admitted, whose works are now known much more than the author himself.

To understand the artist's original work, it is necessary to find out how and how he lived, creating masterpieces "written in the blood of his heart".

Loss of loved ones

In 1863, a future artist was born in Norway, whose work will be called a completely new painting, which exploded the established traditions in art. Edward Munch, whose biography is full of tragic events that left their mark on his works, has become firmly established as a creator whose work has caused a violent emotional impact on the viewer.

Edward remembered his childhood as a joyless and filled with losses. Having lost his mother and beloved sister, who died of tuberculosis, the boy tragically perceived his own way of life. We know his memory of that time: "Black angels of insanity, sickness, death accompanied me to my cradle".

Image of the inner world

After school, Munch studies as an engineer, but at some point realizes that he dreams only of painting. Even the exact date is known-November 8, 1888, when a personal record of a teenager with fear of a teenager's life appeared that he decided to become an artist.

"I often woke up in a cold sweat and looked around my room to see if I was in hell," confessed Edvard Munch at the end of his life. Pictures of the young painter conveyed his experiences: he did not like "beautiful" images, focusing on what is not visible beyond the outer shell of a person.

Representing people, he made casts from their inner world: "There is no other artist who squeezes his theme to the last drop, like me."

Gloomy motives in creativity

A series of tragic withdrawals continued - Munch lost his father, younger brother, in a clinic for the mentally ill sister died. This is reflected in the work of the painter - the dark motives of loneliness and death gain even greater force. Critics noted that the author had an amazing ability to visually reflect his moods and emotions.

After the losses Munch considered the main culprit of all the tragedies of God. He renounces religion, seeking for himself a new system of values. Considering the whole world empty, the artist declares the senselessness of human life and assures that only through art one can achieve immortality.

Studying in an art school, Edward Munch, whose paintings are difficult to attribute to one direction, selflessly given to art. He did not want his works to simply decorate the walls of houses or museums. "My pictures are what I myself experienced, my diary. They gave meaning to my life "- shared the most intimate painter.

Closing of exhibitions

Traveling around the world, the genius got acquainted with different trends and styles in art. He exhibited his works in galleries, but they caused too much public outcry, and his exhibitions were closed. Masters of the classical school in painting considered strange paintings as insulting for viewing, and Munch himself was called an anarchist. After the announcement of the closure of the exhibition, "ugly" works acquire fame, and progressive youth begins to admire scandalous pictures.

Unfinished personal life

The young man, accustomed to solitude, fled from relations with women, giving them a fatal role in the fate of all men. Representatives of the fair sex fell in love with art enthusiastic strange young man with burning eyes, but Munch believed that strong feelings will weaken his craving to create.

There is a passionate love affair between the artist and the daughter of a notable merchant, which ended tragically for both: an obsessive girl who became a burden to a young man tried to poison herself when she learned of the parting from Edward, and after she was literally returned from the other world, she shot through the painter's hand.

Nervous breakdowns and treatment of the disease

Moved several operations and lost a finger, Munk was worried about his creative future. After the case, the insouciant artist begins a real mania of persecution. His nerves surrendered more and more, and the artist broke on random people. He could even beat those who, in his opinion, were unflattering about him. Frequent seizures, accompanied by aggressive actions, lead Munch to a psychiatric hospital, where he was treated with electric shock.

The artist understood that alone he could not cope with alcoholism and depression, and sent for help to specialists. I must say that the disease did not leave him after a long treatment. But Edward accepted it, considering that his work is inextricably linked with mental disruptions.

Unexpected popularity

After intensive therapy, Munch is released. "From there it's not so easy to get out. You can not answer all questions as you like. It is necessary to guess that doctors are waiting for you, otherwise you will remain there forever, "Edvard Munch shared his memories. Works of a brilliant artist for the time that he was in the clinic, are becoming popular.

The master, who has become famous overnight, throws the offers of the world's galleries and private collectors. But the "gloomy Norwegian", as he was sometimes called contemporaries, did not hurry to part with his children. He could not create without seeing his canvases.

Portraits as the transmission of the human soul

The artist Edward Munch drew all the ideas inside himself, trying to help his creativity to other people to understand the complexities of life and explain its purpose. After 1900 he creates a collection of portraits, becoming the main genre in his work. These were memorable works in which the fine strings of the human soul were studied. The artist did not write to order portraits of those who did not know well, and the transfer of only external similarity did not satisfy him.

Creativity in the last years of life

But the late period of creativity master many critics recognize the most unfortunate. Edward Munch, whose works were filled with deep philosophical ideas, but recognized as weak in artistic terms, worked hard in his studio. His style changed for the worse, and the pictures, written in rough strokes, disappointed their fans. It is known that the author suffered from eye disease, because of which he subsequently stopped working completely.

Munch died in early 1944, near Oslo, during the German occupation. He did not leave his disciples after his death, because his original work was too personal and subjective.

"Sick girl": parting with your beloved sister

"Everything I did in my work is due to the birth of this picture," Munch admitted somehow. "Sick girl" - the earliest of his work, which made the artist famous. Deep wounds after the death of loved ones in childhood left an indelible mark on the soul of an impressionable boy. He portrayed a sister who died of tuberculosis, and the motives of illness and death often passed through his work.

For forty years, Munch did not let go of the sudden death of her beloved sister, and he created five versions of this painting, which was subjected to severe criticism from the public. The work depicting a girl on her deathbed, recognized as a significant and crucial moment in the artist's work, caused scandalous public reaction for such a harsh manner of writing and expression of the most forbidden feelings - suffering, pain and despair of a person.

The harassment of critics and the misunderstanding of the public

He constantly listened to the accusations of the depressed and formlessness of the unrelated Edward Munch presented to the audience. Pictures with names that emphasize the deep tragedy and constant pain of the author, were not accepted by the public, not ready to love canvases, far from realistic art. Critics made insults to the artist attacks and called his creations frank failures.

A talented painter was forced to fight for freedom in creativity, daily confronted with frank contempt and ridicule of the suffering child, conveying the state of man, and not his appearance. Munch deliberately created drawings that were not slept under the standard canons of art, literally stunned contemporaries with the truth of life.

Mysterious canvas "Scream"

The most recognizable work of the master of genius is the real horror of man, the picture "Scream". Munch, suffering from fear of open space, portrayed the protagonist, feeling something hostile. And incredible fear was engulfed only him, and two figures from behind quietly talk, not hearing a terrible scream.

Researchers creativity of the Norwegian painter are inclined to the opinion that this canvas is written under the influence of Munch's developed mental illness. An anthrax creature, who opened her mouth and clasped her head in her hands to avoid hearing terrible screams, was probably inspired by the image of the mummy that the Norwegian saw at the exhibition.

The naked nerve of Munch

What does the strange and gloomy work "Scream" represent? Munch believed that a man in a fight with nature is doomed to failure. The depicted creature is devoid of a protective shell, and every impact of external forces causes it to experience incredible tortures. The protagonist is the creator himself, and his naked nerve reacts to every touch. Munch is protected from a natural yell, and the figure of the depicted hero is a natural reaction of a frightened person fleeing from real or apparent cataclysms.

Ungrateful glory

Initially, the picture was called "Scream Nature". It was him, trembling with excitement, felt the author in 1892 in Nice. Probably, it is not surprising that with such a gloomy picture there is a mystical curse of all who enter into any contact with him. Workers who transferred the picture, finished with themselves because of severe headaches and fell into terrible accidents. Touching a finger curious visitor burned alive in his house.

A picture worth more than $ 70 million was repeatedly abducted, but she always returned to the Munch Museum in Oslo. The eerie atmosphere, recreated on canvas, affects the psyche of the viewer, and this fact is scientifically confirmed.

No one knows whether this is a tragic accident, taking people's souls, or indeed a mystical picture possesses an evil fate. Be that as it may, the museum visitors try to avoid it.

"Comfort". Graphics in black and white

An unusual black-and-white image of two sitting naked people against the background of wallpaper created in 1894, still very few people know Munch. "Consolation" - this is how he called his graphic work, realistically conveying the despair and grief of the woman who covered her tear-stained face with her hands. She is tenderly embraced by a man, but his calming gesture can not be mitigated by the unexpected blow of fate, which destroyed the serene life of his companion.

Munch's graphic is a separate world in which the author departs from detailed images to generalization. "Consolation" was one of the first graphic works of the famous Norwegian.

Picture provocation "Madonna"

All his life, suffering Munch, whose "Madonna" is little like the familiar classical image, embodied on his canvas his secret experiences. He considered the woman a mystery to all men: "Holy and vicious, drug and suffering. A man who is driving mad. "

The tragically broken connection with the wine merchant's daughter set a trail in the soul of a man who believed that female beauty brings pain and danger. The "Madonna" of the painter is devoid of any sanctity and purity. The woman in ecstasy closed her eyes from fatigue and plunged into her sensations. Her blue-flowing hair is dismissed and seems to be a terrible danger. The gloomy background of the canvas is disturbing and suggestive of a threat to the whole of humanity as a whole.

Munch, creating a work in which love is closely related to the end of life on earth, wanted to convey all the stages that the woman passes from the conception and birth of the child to death. And the audience considered a rather vulgar picture, on which only the halo gives similarity to the canonical image of the Madonna.

"Parting": pain from breaking relations

In this work, I used three styles of painting by Edward Munch. "Parting" is written after the unsuccessful experience of the artist's love relationship, dividing the picture of the picture into the past and present. He examines the inner and outer world of a suffering person, portrayed with a grim face and holding a bloody hand over his heart. On the right, Munch wrote a faceless girl in a light dress. The author emphasizes that the experiencing gap hero tries to forget the one that caused him so much suffering, and her face is forever erased from his memory.

Right in front of the man is something that looks like a strange plant or a creature with two heads. Red substance, which at first appears to be integral, inexorably tears in different directions. The work uses surrealism, symbolism and modernity, which convey the tragedy of parting.

Immortality in the canvases

Lonely and difficult to meet people Edward Munch, whose works testify to his undoubted talent, during his lifetime evoked a lot of talk about his work, which reflected the author's contradictory personality. Unwilling to part with the suffering paintings and dreaming to merge with them together, Munch continues to live in his paintings, which made him immortal.