In this episode, we’ll be taking a closer look at Edvard Munch’s ‘Madonna’ and other works at the old The Edvard Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway. Welcome to Art, Culture & Books with me, Anthony King.
As always, I take all the photos and videos myself on location, ensuring you get an up-close and personal view of the fascinating world of art and culture. I’ll be popping in and out with commentary as this video progresses but for now let’s take a close up look.
Edvard Munch, the Norwegian painter, created several versions of a painting called Madonna between 1892 and 1895. It shows a topless woman and exists in various collections, including the National Gallery of Norway, the Kunsthalle Hamburg and in private ownership. Though it’s an unusual depiction, some argue it might represent the Virgin Mary. Munch gave it different titles, like Loving Woman and Madonna.
In today’s video, you may have also noticed The Scream, an iconic painting symbolizing human anxiety in art. Munch’s work, including The Scream, greatly influenced the Expressionist movement. We’ll return to the painting in a future video. Make sure to go through my video playlist so you can take a look at my other videos on the work of Munch.
The Munch Museum is dedicated to the life and works of the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, whom we’ve looked at extensively in this series, including visiting his house and the location of his girls on a bridge series. The original museum, originally at Tøyen in Oslo housed works donated by Munch and his sister, Inger Munch. It moved from Tøyen in Oslo after its final exhibition in May 2021. The museum had quite a history because on August 22, 2004, armed robbers stole The Scream and Madonna forcing guards to the floor. Oslo Police recovered them on August 31, 2006. You can see how robbers would target the museum though because it’s in a quiet park. My Norwegian friends told me that security used to be non existent almost. When I visited, the security was comically tight with guards standing by. We must visit the new museum in central Oslo to see what it like now though. We will do so, of course.
By Anthony King (c)