MUNCH AT MOMA. You still have time--but not much--to see the important Edvard Munch exhibition at MOMA through Monday, May 8, 2006 (with expanded hours on Saturday).

Though profoundly troubled for long stretches of his adulthood, Munch managed to live from December 12, 1863 through January 23, 1944. This retrospective exhibition spans the entirety of the Norwegian artist's career, enabling viewers to consider how his artistry reached cathartic heights by the early twentieth century and also consider the lesser-known (and generally less intense) works of his apparently less disturbed later years (about which I'd like to learn more).

In the show, Munch seems to reach his peak in works that fuse his iconic symbology with inspired color combinations and an uncanny skill at using graphic devices to link figures with their enviroment--its almost as if Munch had a touch of Beardsley about him. (I don't have access to digitized images that exemplify this, but you can find a number of such works near the versions of The Scream in the middle of the exhibition.) Yet considered together, all of the chosen works say more about the variety of life experiences (a major preoccupation for Munch) than any individual piece, no matter how powerful the one piece might be.


Edvard Munch
Self-Portrait
1886
Oil on canvas
13 x 9 5/8" (33 x 24.5 cm)
The National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design/National Gallery, Oslo. (c) 2006 The Munch Museum/The Munch-Ellingsen Group/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York









Edvard Munch
Self-Portrait with Cigarette
1895
Oil on canvas
43 1/2 x 33 11/16" (110.5 x 85.5 cm)
The National Museum of Art, Architecture, and Design/National Gallery, Oslo. (c) 2006 The Munch Museum/The Munch-Ellingsen Group/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York









Edvard Munch
Self-Portrait in Hell
1903
Oil on canvas
32 5/16 x 26" (82 x 66 cm)
Munch Museum, Oslo
(c) 2006 The Munch Museum/The Munch-Ellingsen Group/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Edvard Munch








Edvard Munch
Self-Portrait in Bergen
1916
Oil on canvas
35 1/4 x 23 5/8" (89.5 x 60 cm)
Munch Museum, Oslo
(c) 2006 The Munch Museum/The Munch-Ellingsen Group/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York









Edvard Munch
Self-Portrait by the Window
c. 1940
Oil on canvas
33 1/16 x 42 1/2" (84 x 108 cm)
Munch Museum, Oslo
(c) 2006 The Munch Museum/The Munch-Ellingsen Group/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York





Edvard Munch
Self-Portrait: Between the Clock and the Bed
1940-42
Oil on canvas
58 7/8 x 47 7/16" (149.5 x 120.5 cm)
Munch Museum, Oslo
(c) 2006 The Munch Museum/The Munch-Ellingsen Group/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York








Here's Scoboco on the Munch show.

Photo: David Marc Fischer