Edvard Munch is emblazoned on the public imagination for one iconic picture, but as is demonstrated in this groundbreaking exhibition, there is so much more to this complex artist. In this first major show of Munch's portraits in the UK, his artistic development is traced through a series of extraordinary portraits. The show opens with a self-representation which introduces an outwardly confident, almost defiant, young man whose eyes are the only hint of the dark and troubled spirit within. The early death of his mother, his father's morose and reclusive nature and his sister's mental illness all formed the troubled artist we are familiar with, and this exhibition hits those notes in the first room which deals with family and Munch's involvement in the bohemian life of Kristiana (Oslo) in the 1880s. Indeed, Munch's obsession with death and dying is present in his painting of his brother Andreas Munch Studying Anatomy (1886) in which the skull is not only a study aid, but also a memento mori. The work forms a fitting contrast to one of the last pieces in the exhibition, The Anatomist Schreiner I (1928-29) in which the artist casts himself as the subject of the autopsy. This melancholic, introspective Munch is the one we are familiar with, but another side of the painter is revealed in the portraits in rooms two and three. Here we see the practical side of Munch, a man who was able to market himself as a portrait artist for wealthy patrons and who surrounded himself with a group of supporters who advanced his successful career. At the same time as we are invited to appreciate the paradoxes of this man and his interaction with a milieu as varied as the anarchist, Hans Jæger, the physicist, Felix Auerbach, the violinist, Eva Mudocci and his servant, Sultan Abdul Karim, we also see his amazing development as an artist. His increasing confidence and boldness is matched by an increasing use of colour and a freeing up of his brush strokes. Edvard Munch Portraits is an intelligently curated show that invites us to look beyond the popular persona of this well-known figure and to contemplate him and his work in a refreshingly different context.
Rated: ★★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Image: Andreas Munch Studying Anatomy, Edvard Munch, 1886. © Munchmuseet. Photo: Munchmuseet / Juri Kobayashi
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