The Norweigan painter, Edvard Munch would say that his paintings should suffer like he did. He’s the acknowledged father of visual expressionism, whose works have been forever linked with death, sex, anxiety and desolation.
Munch was one of the first turn of the century painters to use emotions, longings and desires as models for his art. “We should no longer paint interiors with people reading and women knitting,” he’d say. “We should paint real people who breathe, feel, suffer and love”.
The art of Edvard Munch came out of a rebellion against realism, a deeper understanding of science and psychology, as well his own lifelong experiences with death, sickness and emotional trauma. Today, his more famous works like “The Scream,” “The Voice,” and “Anxiety” have reached a pop icon status adorning the neckties, tee-shirts and mouse pads of the caffeine addicted twenty-something generation.
(Hosted by Christopher Lydon)
Guests:
Claude Cernuschi, Professor of Modern Art History at Boston College and co-curator of the college’s Munch exhibit, “Psyche, Symbol and Expression.”