Edvard Munch: Love and Angst. Exhibition at the British Museum

“We don’t want photos to hang on the living room wall, but art that comes from the most intimate part of our heart.” One of art’s most iconic and disturbing brushes is on display at the British Museum with all its extraordinary power. If, indeed, The Scream by Edvar Munch can be considered the universal expression of human angst with no need of explanation, it is thanks to the experiences of the artist’s youth. On 11 April, the British Museum opens the doors to the largest British exhibition of prints by the artist, most of them on loan from the Oslo Museum, along with a rare lithograph of the The Scream (1895) on loan from a private collection. Fear, anxiety, desperation, but also his relationship with women are the through-lines of the exhibition. Besides the six prints from the British Museum itself, the exhibition unites over 80 works, including 50 on loan from Norway’s capital city, Oslo. Rebellious, visceral, hungry for new experiences, Munch turned his back on his rigid Lutheran education to live a considerably non-conventional life-style, travelling throughout Europe and finding inspiration in bohemian artistic circles and his numerous impassioned love stories. His work gave shape to his wealth of experience in a rapidly changing Europe. His innovative techniques, the audacious use of colour and his grave subjects made Munch a modern artist and this can all be experienced in the halls of the British Museum with this exhibition that is open to the public until 21 July.