With an exceptional loan of 100 masterpieces from MUNCH Museum in Oslo Palazzo Reale and Arthemisia pay homage to one of the 20th century’s most important artists, who was able to interpret the deepest emotions of human beings
This broad retrospective will narrate Munch’s entire human and artistic journey,displaying some of the most renowned and iconic works in art history
“In my art I have sought to explain to myself life and its meaning,I have also intended to help others to understand their own lives" - Edvard Munch
An undisputed key figure in the history of modern art, Munch was one of the 19th century’s leading Symbolist artists and is considered a forerunner of Expressionism, in addition to being an interpreter of the deepest anxieties and aspirations of the human soul.
Munch’s life was marked by great sorrows that he explored as a source for his art: the premature loss of his mother and sister, his father’s death and his tortured relationship with his fiancée Tulla Larsen. His work also embodied his passion for the radiant energies of nature.
Everything contributed towards forming Munch’s poetics, which, thanks to his exceptional talent, succeeded in expressing his inner fire,his commitment to transform sensation into artworks. His expressionless faces, his dazed landscapes,and his powerful use of colour can reach every viewer, turning his works into universal messages, the existential disquiet that afflicts every human being. This is what has determined Munch’s greatness,making him one of the 20th century’s most iconic artist
Edvard Munch Le ragazze sul ponte 1927 Olio su tela, 100,5x90 cm Foto Halvor Bjørngård©Munchmusee
Curated by Patricia Berman, one of the world’s leading Munch scholars the exhibition narrates the artist’s entire universe, his life journey, and his work – and it will do so through 100 works, including one of Oslo’s lithographic versions of The Scream(1895), but also The Death of Marat(1907) ,Starry Night(1922–1924), The Girls on the Bridge(1927), Evening. Melancholy(1900–1901) and Dance on the Beach (The Linde Frieze) (1904).
The Milan exhibition will include a rich programme of collateral events that will involve a number of the city’s cultural organizations and will explore the artist’s personality in greater depth while expanding the themes of his works
Edvard Munch Autoritratto su sfondo verde / Tulla Larsen1905 Olio su tela, 67,5x45,5 cm / 62,5x33 cm
Photo © Munchmuseet
Edvard Munch (1863-1944) had an exceptional work ethic that brought him to produce thousands of prints and paintings during his long life. Both a man of images and of words, he also composed endless notes, literary sketches, correspondence, and even a play. The desire to communicate his perceptions accompanies him throughout his life and is the beating heart of his practice as an artist. His works deal with images of birth, death, love, and existential questioning. He considered these themes to be universal.
Many works portray psychological struggle: the instabilities of erotic love, the toll of physical and psychological illness, and the vacuum left by death. Others attempt to capture the invisible forces that Munch believed to animate and bind the universe.This exhibition focuses on Munch’s inner fire, his commitment to crystalize and communicate his memories and sense perceptions. He explored the means to make his sensory and emotional experience visible by staging narrative scenes in flat areas of color and discordant perspectives. We can associate his works with a creative process that seeks to bring together what he observed, what he remembered, and how much he charged with emotion.Munch’s early career coincided with radical changes in the study of perception, in which scientists,psychologists, philosophers, and artists debated the relationship between what the eye sees directly and how the contents of the mind affect sight. His lifelong interest in the unseen forces that shape experience conditioned the works that made him one of the most consequential artists of his time. In his exploration of unseen forces -- a precursor to 20th century Expressionism and even Futurism – he continues to speak to our own inner visions and contemporary concerns. In his works, Munch endeavoured to make the invisible, visible.
Palazzo Reale - Piazza Duomo Milan
Information and bookings
Comments