Edvard Munch
Trembling Earth
June 10, 2023–October 15, 2023
Edvard Munch
The Sun
1912
Oil on canvas
48 7/16 × 69 1/2 in. (123 × 176.5 cm)
Munchmuseet, Oslo, Norway. MM.M.00822
Edvard Munch: Trembling Earth is the first exhibition in the United States to reveal how Munch (Norwegian, 1863–1944) animated nature to convey meaning. Regarded primarily as a figure painter, Munch's most celebrated images are connected to themes of love, anxiety, longing, and death. Yet, a large portion of his works feature landscape. This ambitious presentation reveals a lesser-known aspect of Munch’s career and resonates profoundly with current anxieties around climate instability, considering his iconic art from a new perspective. The exhibition features approximately eighty paintings, prints, and drawings, organized thematically to reinforce how Munch used nature to express human psychology, celebrate farming practice and garden cultivation, and question the mysteries of the forest as Norway faced industrialization. In Munch’s depictions of geographical sites along the Oslo fjord and the Baltic coast, the artist investigated changes brought about by tourism and participated in health reform initiatives such as nude bathing. The exhibition also explores how Munch developed his own pantheistic and philosophical views of nature and used them to capture his surroundings.
Additional Venues:
November 18, 2023–April 1, 2024
Museum Barberini, Potsdam
April 27, 2024–August 24, 2024
Munchmuseet, Oslo
Edvard Munch: Trembling Earth is co-organized by the Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts; the Museum Barberini, Potsdam, Germany; and Munchmuseet, Oslo, Norway, and curated by Jay A. Clarke, Rothman Family Curator, Art Institute of Chicago; Jill Lloyd, independent curator; and Trine Otte Bak Nielsen, curator, Munchmuseet. Generous funding for presentation at the Clark and Munchmuseet is provided by the Asbjorn Lunde Foundation, Inc.
Edvard Munch: Trembling Earth is made possible by Diane and Andreas Halvorsen. Major funding is provided by Carol and Richard Seltzer, with additional support from Lady Gibbons, Robert D. Kraus, the S & L Marx Foundation, and the Norwegian Consulate General, New York. This exhibition is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
