More obviously than in the case of most artists, Edvard Munch's genius was molded by the circumstances of his life. He was born in 1863 at Loten, north of Christiania (now Oslo), the second of five children of Dr Christian Munch, an army physician, and his wife Laura Cathrine, nee Bjolstad. Though of modest means, the family belonged to the intellectual bourgeoisie, and Edvard's uncle was the great Norwegian historian Peter Andreas Munch. While Munch was still an infant his family moved to Christiania where he grew up.

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Few images in the history of art are as widely recognized as Edvard Munch"s The Scream. It conveys its powerful message very directly so that the viewer requires no knowledge of the circumstances of its creation to derive mean ing from it. This quality of much of Munch"s work means that although The Scream and several other images such as Madonna are generally familiar, other aspects of Munch"s life and work are little known or ignored.

The influence Munch had on some younger artists with this expressionistic quality in his art has often led to him being seen purely as a pioneer of modernism. David Loshak demonstrates that to see Munch only in these terms is to misunderstand his art. Just as Raphael, an eclectic who borrowed from pre decessors and contemporaries, brought the humanistic tradition of the Italian Renais sance to one of the peaks of its development, so Munch, also an eclectic, did something similar for the realistic-romantic tradition of the nineteenth century. For a long time he seemed to be turning his back on realism, whereas actually, on a deeper level, unlike some contemporaries from whom he bor rowed what he needed, he was not rejecting but extending it, adding rather than substitut ing a new dimension of subjectivity.

In a lengthy introduction illustrated with photographs of the artist at work, and prints and paintings by Munch and artists who in fluenced him in his early years, the author tells the story of Munch"s life, following him from Norway to Berlin and Paris and back again. He examines Munch"s artistic develop ment in the light of his unsettled childhood, overshadowed by the death of his mother and sister and the madness of another sister. This is followed by a selection of 60 of Munch"s paintings and prints, chosen from throughout his career. Each is illustrated in large-scale full color with an accompanying text which explains the subject matter, symbolism and pictorial devices of each work. This thoughtprovoking study is informed by David Loshak"s many years" study of the subject and his Scandinavian cultural heritage, and will give pleasure to its readers for many years to come.

Introduction

Morning

Karl Jensen-Hjell

The Sick Child

The Sick Child

Puberty

Village Shop in Vrengen

Inger on the Beach

Hans Jaeger

Night in St Cloud

Spring Day on Karl Johan Street

Rue Lafayette

Evening on Karl Johan Street

Ludvig Meyer

The Storm

The Dead Mother

Summer Night"s Dream (The Voice)

Dagny Przybyszewska

The Scream

Madonna

Woman in Three Stages (The Spbinx)

Ashes

Melancholy

Jealousy

The Day After

Self-Portrait with Cigarette

Death in the Sickroom

Separation

Red Virginia Creeper

Fertility

The Dance of Life

Girls on the Pier

Dance on the Shore

White Night

The Fisherman

Bathing Boys

Family on the Road

Dr Max Linde"s Four Sons

Loving Couples in the Park (The Linde Frieze)

Young People and Ducks

Walther Rathenau

The Death of Marat

Worker and Child

Dr Daniel Jacobson

The Sun

The Yellow Log

The Cliff at Kragero

Yawning Woman

Workers Returning Home

Toward the Forest

High Summer

Self-Portrait in Bergen

The Man in the Cabbage Field

The Murderer in the Avenue

Girl on the Verandah at Ekely

The Bohemian"s "Wedding

Red House and Spruce Trees

Building the Winter Studio

Self-Portrait at the Window

Between the Clock and the Bed

Girl with Pumpkin in the Garden at Ekely

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgments