Edvard Munch, Norwegian painter and print maker 1863–1944, is perhaps my most favorite artist.His psychological themes are built on Symbolism but his work is also influenced by Expressionism. He grew up during a time when Tuberculosis, also called Consumption or the White Death was rampant in Europe and North America. See more below.
Munch, The Sick Child,1886, shows the influence of Manet on Munch in the earlier period of his career.
By the late 19th century, 70 to 90% of the urban populations of Europe and North America were infected with the TB bacillus, and about 80% of those individuals who developed active tuberculosis died of it. Tuberculosis killed 100,000 people each year in North America alone in the early 1900s. The disease killed Munch’s mother when Munch was five, his favorite sister, and the wife of Edgar Allan Poe, whose stories Munch grew up with and which were an early influence on him in addition to his family’s poverty, history of tuberculosis, and family history of insanity.
i felt that there is a little bit of Impressionnisme in this painting, especially the notion of time that is manifested by the candle a little sidelined .
Yes, there was some influence of impressionism early on. Manet is supposed to have himself been a bridge between Realism and Impressionism and invented the “alla prima” technique (wet on wet), a fast way of working rather than building up layers of paint and undersketch underneath and leaving them to dry. I’m trying to understand why critics compared Munch’s early work to Manet in particular. Here I do see a lot of painted lines, which looks different from many of his works that are smoother and of course the print blockmaking in block shapes.
Beautiful and instructive. Thank you.
I love both Manet and Munch. I didn’t know about Manet’s influence on Munch’s painting though. And I certainly didn’t know his sister was married to Poe (whom I absolutely adore). She must be Annabel Lee then who died of tuberculosis.
…Poe was married to his first cousin, not to a Manet. Yes, Poe is wonderful, love his poems.
Wait a sec, I understood Poe was married to Manet’s sister? So, this is not true then, is it?
No it’s not true. I’m not sure where that came from– but no, Poe was married to his own cousin, who was a child from a very poor Philadelphia family in America, no relation to Manet.
‘The disease killed Munch’s mother when Munch was five, his favorite sister, and the wife of Edgar Allan Poe’. This could be interpreted that Munch’s sister was married to Poe.
It is a slightly ambiguous sentence in terms of syntax but I would not read it that way. I’m actually a grammar editor by trade.
It would be:
The disease killed Munch’s mother when Munch was five, and his sister, the wife of Edgar Allan Poe. (Read that and you will see that would have indicated that Munch’s sister was Poe’s wife, not the version you showed me.) If you map it on a grammar tree, you will see.
Doesn’t matter. Move on…