It’s a Scream

Edvard Munch, afflicted by alcoholism, untethered like much of his generation by the loss of God, painted wild, hallucinatory pictures that became increasingly raw over the years, until he found salvation in Nature, as Jessica Lack discovers

IN 1892, an exhibition in Berlin, Germany, was shut down in outrage, causing instant notoriety for the 28-year-old artist whose work was on show: Edvard Munch. ‘This is the best thing that could have happened to me,’ he wrote to his aunt, ‘a better advertisement I couldn’t have wished for.’ German audiences didn’t know what to make of the Norwegian’s wild, hallucinatory paintings that expressed intense emotions. ‘Art is in danger!’ headlined the Frankfurter Zeitung: only a ‘demented character’ could have painted such ‘poison’. ‘Die Affaire Munch’ all but canonised the Nordic painter as a pioneer of Modernism. He has been subsequently revered by Symbolists and Surrealists, Expressionists and neo-Expressionists, pop artists and situationists and on into the present day, when Peter Doig considers him a major inspiration and the…

You're reading a preview of

Country Life (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 12, 2025

DiscountMags is a licensed distributor (not a publisher) of the above content and Publication through Zinio LLC. Accordingly, we have no editorial control over the Publications. Any opinions, advice, statements, services, offers or other information or content expressed or made available by third parties, including those made in Publications offered on our website, are those of the respective author(s) or publisher(s) and not of DiscountMags. DiscountMags does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, truthfulness, or usefulness of all or any portion of any publication or any services or offers made by third parties, nor will we be liable for any loss or damage caused by your reliance on information contained in any Publication, or your use of services offered, or your acceptance of any offers made through the Service or the Publications. For content removal requests, please contact Zinio.