Biography of Edvard Munch - Research History

Biography of Edvard Munch

1863	Birth of Edvard Munch, December 12, Loten, Norway. Son of military doctor, Christian Munch and wife, Cathrine.
1868	Munch’s mother dies of tuberculosis at the age of 30. Her sister, Karen Bjolstad, takes over household.
1877	Sister, Sophie, dies of tuberculosis at age of 15.
1879	Edvard enters Technical College to become an engineer. Frequent illnesses interrupt his studies.
1880	Leaves College to become a painter.
1881	Enrolls at the Royal School of Art and Design. Paints his first self portrait. Sculptor Julius Middelthun teacher of Munch.
1882	Exhibits at the Industries and Art Exhibition.
1885	Works on The Sick Child.
1886	Munch is identified with a controversial group called “Christiania’s Bohemia”, named after a novel of that name by Hans Jaeger, anarchist and a leader of the group.
1889	Edvard organizes a retrospective exhibition of 110 works at the Student Organization in Christiania. He attends Bonnat School of Art in Paris. Father dies.
1890	Returns to Norway.
1891	Rents a studio in Paris. Summer in Norway. Munch’s health deteriorates through excessive drinking. Travels to Copenhagen, Nice, Hamburg, Frankfurt, Basle and Geneva.
1892	Edvard is invited by the Union of Berlin Artists, to exhibit at its November exhibition. Munch’s paintings become the object of bitter controversy; after one week the exhibition is closed. Munch’s paintings are shown at exhibitions in Düsseldorf, Copenhagen, Breslau, Dresden and Munich.
1893	Takes up residence in Berlin. Meets and paints August Strindberg. Joins international circle of writers, artists and critics, including Ola Hannson, Richard Dehmal, Holger Drachmann and Gunnar Heiberg.
1894	Produces first etchings and lithographs. Receives commissions for illustrations for the periodical Pan.
1895	The press urge a boycott of Munch’s exhibition at Blomquist’s gallery in Christiania, Norway. The National Gallery of Oslo buys Self Portrait with Cigarette.
1896	Moves to Paris. A full-page reproduction of Madonnaappears in the periodical L’Aube. Prints color lithographs and first woodcuts. His mental and physical health deteriorates.
1897	Buys a house at Asgardstrand, where he will spend most of his summers until 1906.
1898	Travels to Copenhagen, Berlin and Paris. Illustrates Strindberg’s texts in the periodical Quickborn.
1899	Travels to Berlin, Paris, and Florence, Rome. Suffers from influenza, bronchitis and exhaustion.
1902	Exhibits the “Frieze of Life” at the Berlin Secession. During an argument Munch is wound by a gunshot and loses two finger joints in his left hand. Gustav Schiefler begins to catalog his graphic works.
1903	Meets Eva Mudocci, an English violinist.
1904	Sells 800 prints through Schiefler. Becomes a member of Berliner Secession. Munch now drinks heavily.
1906	Attempts health cures at various spas near Weimar. Travels to Berlin, Weimar and Jena.
1907	Settles in Berlin.
1908	Edvard paints in Warnemünde, Rostock, Germany. Exhibits with the Brücke in Dresden. Complete nervous breakdown in autumn. Spends eight months at Dr. Jacobson’s clinic.
1909	Composes prose poem, “Alpha and Omega” with lithograph illustrations. Returns to Norway where he rents a house at Skrubben near Kragero. Munch isolates himself from the art world.
1910	Participates in the Berlin Secession.
1911	Wins the Oslo University Aula competition.
1913	Resigns from the Berlin Secession. Exhibits new versions of the “Frieze of Life” paintings at the Autumn Exhibition in Berlin with Picasso. Travels widely in Europe and visits New York.
1915	Munch exhibits graphic works at the Panama-Pacific International exhibition in San Francisco.
1916	Buys a house at Ekly, Norway, where he will live most of the rest of his life.
1917	Curt Glaser’s book “Edvard Munch” is published in Berlin.
1920-2	Travels to Berlin, Paris, Wiesbaden and Frankfurt. Buys work from German artists to support them.
1923	Edvard Munch becomes a member of the German Academy of Fine Art.
1927	Exhibits over 223 works at his retrospective exhibitions at the National Galleries in Berlin and Oslo.
1928	Designs murals for central hall, Oslo City Hall. Suffers from cysts in his right eye.
1933	Celebrates 70th birthday. A broken vessel in his right eye causes almost total blindness.
1934	Presents his portrait of Strindberg to the National Museum in Stockholm.
1940-1	Germany invades Norway. Munch refuses contact with the Nazis.
1944	Shortly after his 80th birthday, on January 23, Edvard Munch dies peacefully at home in Ekely. Bequeaths 1,000 paintings, 15,400 prints, 4,500 drawings and watercolors, and 6 sculptures to the city of Oslo.

Leave a Reply