Edvard Munch was classed as a symbolist painter whose paintings were designed to communicate messages from the artist rather than simply copying reality as the realists had done. This website includes detailed information on the life and career of this talented European painter.
Munch produced an impressive catalogue of paintings from a considerable career, whose highlight was undoubtably The Scream, which you can see below alongside a full gallery of his other major works.
Edvard Munch is known for his series of works based on the emotions of love, fear, death, melancholia, and anxiety and The Scream was included within this collection which he entitled the Frieze of Life.
This method for producing series of paintings with a linked topic was relatively rare up until around the 19th century before artists such as Claude Monet (Haystacks) and Alphonse Mucha (Seasons) began to do it regularly and Munch's series is one of the best known of all.
Edvard Munch has marked himself out as certainly the most inspriring artist to have come from Norway, and there are few others notable names to challenge him within this small North European country.
The extent of his contributions to this country's art scene has led to the construction of the Edvard Munch Museum which holds most of his art from right across his career and it is certainly an excellent opportunity to see a great number of his original paintings together, which isn't possible for many artists other than occasional exhibitions.
The Scream, which you can see below, was a painting with the intention of underlining the sadness and difficulties being experienced by the poorer parts of society in Norway at that time, and is similar in that respect to Van Gogh's Potato Eaters which was an equally moody affair with the ambition of drawing attention to the poorer parts of Dutch society, around which Van Gogh himself was living.
The difference between these artists is that the latter's move to France opened up new ideas for his art which now would rely on brighter colours and a more positive outlook.
