Paris museum looks at 60-year oeuvre of Munch with new show
A visitor looks at "The Artist and his Model" by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch during the preview of the "Edvard Munch. A Poem of Life, Love and Death" exhibition at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, France, Sept. 15, 2022. (AFP)


Paris' Orsay Museum takes visitors on a journey showcasing Edvard Munch's oeuvre with a new exhibition featuring his 100 works, spanning 60 years to show that the art of the Norwegian painter cannot be degraded to his famed composition "The Scream."

Because the complexity of Munch's work is largely unknown, the exhibition seeks to showcase his entire artistic evolution, said curator Claire Berardi.

A visitor looks at "Self portrait with a cigarette" by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch during the preview of the "Edvard Munch. A Poem of Life, Love and Death" exhibition at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, France, Sept. 15, 2022. (AFP)

The exhibition "Un poème de vie, d'amour et de mort," which translates as "a poem about life, love and death," was created in collaboration with the Munch Museum in Oslo and will remain on display until Jan. 22.

The collection is not organized chronologically but focuses instead on Munch's recurring motifs of loneliness, love, disappearance and death, themes which go hand-in-hand with the various existential crises endured by the painter and graphic artist.

A Museum photographer takes a picture of "Portrait of Inger Munch" painting by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch during the preview of the "Edvard Munch. A Poem of Life, Love and Death" exhibition at the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, France, Sept. 15, 2022. (AFP)

Munch's fears can be seen in the sinuous lines of his compositions, paintings, etchings, lithographs and wood carvings, as well as the powerful and dynamic colors he used.

Among the major works on display in Paris are "Vampire," "Melancholy," "Metabolism (Life and Death)," and "Evening on Karl Johan Street." Munch's iconic "The Scream" original is not in Paris, but its first version in print, a lithograph from 1895, is on display.