Edvard Munch: Love and Angst


Depressing exhibition at the British Museum looking at the work of Edvard Munch focusing on his prints from 1890-1918.

I really wanted to like this and engage with it but all the images were so depressing. It definitely provided more angst than love. I felt quite fed up when I came out and needed coffee and cake.

I liked the way it was arranged in a circle by the city he was living in with displays radiating out from a showings of contemporary film of that city. It also included work by other artists to emphasis the fact that Munch was reflecting contemporary themes but it took me a while to realise this and thought all the works were by him. Maybe emphasising this a bit more on the labels might have helped.

The show was very good at describing the technical production of different types of print and Munch seemed to have worked in many print mediums but this made the show a bit stolid. I did like seeing various versions of a print alongside the plate which had made them.

I did like the section at the end looking at Munch’s work for the theatre and it was fun to see programmes he had designed. It was interesting to read about his friendships with playwrights such as Strindberg and Ibsen. I also liked the way it explained his idea of the Frieze of Life and how he revisted the themes in it again and again.

Closes 21 July 2019

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