Scholarly record
PHILOSOPHIC AND ART ANALYSIS OF PICTORIAL WORKS BY E. MUNCH: MELANCHOLY, SEPARATION, THE DANCE OF LIFE
Abstract
The oeuvre of the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch was influenced by the major tenets of Symbolism of the end of the XIX century and German Expressionism of the beginning of the XX century, which allowed the painter to express the depths of meaning of life through visual signs. The objective of our research is to determine the artistic concept of the paintings Melancholy, Separation, The Dance of Life by Edvard Munch as representants of his major cycle of works The Frieze of Life. The methodology of the research includes theoretic investigation of historiographic facts of the creative career of the painter, and description of the selected works, based on the methodic analysis of visual signs in their material, index and symbolic statuses. Methodic analysis of the pictorial works by Edvard Munch allowed us to formulate the artistic concept of each of the works under analysis. The existential emotion of melancholy is represented by means of sign-symbolic forms of the artistic image of a man, who is sitting on the edge of the shoreline, immersed in his thought. We found that this emotion is connected with self-analysis and the persons trying to understand the development of his spiritual life. The artistic image of the painting Separation by Edvard Munch represents the spiritual understanding by a person of the basics of the sensual world (love, birth, death), leading to the inevitable separation as the vital stage of transition to the new level of development. The painting The Dance of Life completes the cycle The Frieze of Life, its artistic image generalizes the conceptual program of the whole cycle: life of a person, like nature, is, on the whole, influenced by the rhythm of its cyclic development with its necessary stages of youth, maturity, old age and death.
Publication Impact Profile
Publication details
References15
Bishoff U. Edvard Munch, 1863-1944: Pictures of life and death. Moscow, ART-Rodnik, 2003.
Ness A. Edvard Munch: Biography of the artist. Moscow, All World, 2007.
Deyneka P. The secret of success of Edvard Munch. Development of personality, 2009 4, pp. 156-188.
Miranda C.M., Miranda C.E. & Molina D.M. Edvard Munch: Disease and genius of the great Norwegian artist. Revista Medica de Chile, 2013 141 (6), pp. 774-779.
Sandbakken E.G. & Tveit E.S. (2012). Edvard Munch's monumental sketches (1909-1916) for the Aula of Oslo University, Norway: Conservation issues and treatments. Studies in Conservation, 2012 57 SUPPL. 1. S258-S26757.
Bauer D. & Pierroux P. Expert and adolescent interpretive approaches in a national art museum. Museum Management and Curatorship, 2014 29 (3), pp. 260-279.
Deborah H., George S., & Hardeberg J.Y. Pigment mapping of the scream (1893) based on hyperspectral imaging. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), 2014 8509 LNCS, pp. 247-256.
Ghani Dahlan A. The Scream & Starry Night: Emotions, symbol & motives. Estudios Sobre el Mensaje Periodistico, 2014 20 (1), pp. 331-339.
Young P. & Finn B.C. Atmosphere, the scream and Edvard Munch. Revista Medica de Chile, 2014 142 (1), pp. 125-126.
La Nasa J., Zanaboni M., Uldanck D., (...), Topalova-Casadiego B., Colombini M.P. Novel application of liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry for the characterization of drying oils in art: Elucidation on the composition of original paint materials used by Edvard Munch (1863-1944). Analytica Chimica Acta, 2015 896 8, pp. 177-189.
Cordulack S.W. Edvard Munch and the physiology of symbolism. USA, Rosemont Publishing, 2002.
Maksak М.V. Phenomenon of pictorial symbolism of Edvard Munch. Space of culture, 2009 2, pp. 119-131.
Azeem H. The art of Edvard Munch: A window onto a mind. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 2015 21 (1), pp. 51-53.
Koptseva N.P. & Zhukovsky V.I. The artistic image as a process and result of game relations between a work of visual art as an object and its spectator. Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences, 2008 1, pp. 226-244.
Gekkel E. World mysteries. Popular essays of monistic philosophy. Moscow, 1906.
View or Download full articleAccess options
SWS access login
Login as SWS Scientific CommitteeLogin as SWS Scientific PartnerLogin as SWS AuthorAuthors and approved SWS contributors will read and export their own linked papers after identity matching by SWS profile, email and SGEM GlobalID.
For librarian assistance: [email protected]
Purchase Instant Access
- Article can be downloaded after successful payment.
- Article may be used according to SWS library access terms.
- Article cannot be redistributed.
