Edvard Munch, a Norwegian artist, was born in Norway in 1863. He grew up in a family where chronic and mental illnesses were known. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was five and several years later his sister died of the same disease. Munch’s father was very religious and often referred to the premature deaths of his wife and daughter as punishment. This lead to the father’s depression which was accompanied by anger spells. Being raised by an emotionally unstable father had an immense impact on Munch’s personal mental illness. Due to the chain of tragic events that took place throughout Munch’s lifetime, he too became emotionally unstable like his father. He developed an emotional suffering that left him with feelings of anxiety and …show more content…
Munch also used a lot of symbolism in his paintings that are usually closely related to his feelings of emotions. His mental sufferings were made exceptionally acknowledgeable in his works. Munch quoted, “For as long as I can remember I have suffered from a deep feeling of anxiety, which I have tried to express in my art. Without anxiety and illness, I should have been like a ship without a rudder.” Many of his works consisted of scenes of life and death, love and terror, and the feeling of loneliness which were all fears of Edvard Munch. This was emphasized through dark colors, contrasting lines, and a type of grave tone. Several of his paintings symbolize his sister’s illness and death such as, The Sick Child. A lot of the troubled artist’s paintings were of personal psychological experiences. Some of Munch’s ancestors were also artists. Jacob Munch was a painter and Peter Munch was an historian. It is said that his artistic abilities were inherited from his family. Edvard Munch passed away in 1944 at the age of 80. Instead of his paintings going to his family, his art work was donated to the Norwegian