Armchair Traveler: Munch and Oslo

Edvard Munch’s iconic Scream changed the course of art history, and has become one of the most reproduced works of art in the world. It’s become one of the most expensive, too, selling for nearly $120 million in May.
 
The artist was born 149 years ago this week in Ådalsbruk, Norway. Soon after, his family moved to the capital city of Christiania, now Oslo, a city that he remains linked to today. In Oslo he socialized with the city’s bohemian artistic elite, including the man who would become his mentor, Hans Jaegar. He would also develop his uniquely modern view of world, a dark image filled with anxiety and madness.
 
Munch’s breakthrough came in 1907 with the painting of The Sick Child, a painting that went past the Impressionism of the day and into a style more expressive and abstract, with colors evoking emotion rather than nature. He continued to work, despite his lifelong battle with mental illness, until his death, at 80, in 1944. He donated his work to the city of Oslo, where much of it remains today. Discover Oslo through Munch and check out Museyon’s photographic tour of Oslo.

To find out how to see Munch’s work in the city where he made it, and to learn more about his life, pick up a copy of Art + Travel Europe from Museyon Guides.
 

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