Edvard Munch Behind The Scream

by Prideaux, Sue

• ISBN13: 9780300110241
• ISBN10: 0300110243
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-10-25
• Publisher: Yale University Press

Summary

Although almost everyone recognizes Edvard Munch's famous paintingThe Scream,hardly anyone knows much about the man. What kind of person could have created this universal image, one that so vividly expressed all the uncertainties of the twentieth century? What kind of experiences did he have? In this book, the first comprehensive biography of Edvard Munch in English, Sue Prideaux brings the artist fully to life. Combining a scholar's precision with a novelist's insight, she explores the events of his turbulent life and unerringly places his experiences in their intellectual, emotional, and spiritual contexts. With unlimited access to tens of thousands of Munch's papers, including his letters and diaries, Prideaux offers a portrait of the artist that is both intimate and moving. Munch sought to paint what he experienced rather than what he saw, and as his life often veered out of control, his experiences were painful. Yet he painted throughout his long life, creating strange and dramatic works in which hysteria and violence lie barely concealed beneath the surface. An extraordinary genius, Munch connects with an audience that reaches around the world and across more than a century.

Author Biography

SUE PRIDEAUX is an art historian and the author of four novels.

Table of Contents

Foreword	vii
Problems in Naming and Dating	x
Munch's Paints and Materials	xii
Maps	xiv
Family Tree	xvi
ONE Shy Souls: 1863 and Before	1	(6)
TWO Never More to Be Parted: 1864-1868	7	(8)
THREE Growing up in Kristiania: 1869-1875	15	(9)
FOUR The Blood-red Banner: 1876-1877	24	(9)
FIVE Losing Faith: 1878-1881	33	(1)
SIX 'I have decided to become an artist': 1879-1881	34	(13)
SEVEN 'No more brown sauce': 1882-1885	47	(11)
EIGHT A Calculated Seduction: 1885	58	(11)
NINE A Few Drinks Before Breakfast: 1883-1886	69	(10)
TEN Soap Art and Soul Art: 1886	79	(12)
ELEVEN And Virtue is a Sham: 1886-1889	91	(17)
TWELVE The Saint-Cloud Manifesto: 1889-1890	108	(14)
THIRTEEN Bizzarro: 1890-1892	122	(14)
FOURTEEN God is Dead. Berlin: 1892-1894	136	(17)
FIFTEEN Memento Mori: 1894-1896	153	(8)
SIXTEEN Magical Assassins: 1896-1900	161	(15)
SEVENTEEN The Dance of Life: 1897-1899	176	(17)
EIGHTEEN Death and the Maiden: 1899-1901	193	(14)
NINETEEN The Shooting: 1902	207	(19)
TWENTY Self-portrait in Hell: 1903-1908	226	(19)
TWENTY-ONE The Hideous Face of Insanity: 1907-1909	245	(20)
TWENTY-TWO The Sun, the Sun: 1909-1916	265	(20)
TWENTY-THREE Where My Soul Fits in?: 1914-1922	285	(17)
TWENTY-FOUR Degenerate Art: 1922-1940	302	(16)
TWENTY-FIVE Death at the Helm: 1940-1944	318	(11)
Notes	329	(37)
Select Bibliography	366	(5)
Chronology	371	(4)
Photograph and Text Credits	375	(1)
Index	376