Edvard Munch Edvard Munch Edvard Munch (; ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter, whose best known work, "The Scream", has become one of the most iconic images of world art. His childhood was overshadowed by illness, bereavement and the dread of inheriting a mental condition that ran in the family. Studying at the Royal School of Art and Design in Kristiania (today’s Oslo), Munch began to live the bohemian life, under the largely negative influence of the nihilist Hans Jæger, who did, however, urge him to paint his own emotional and psychological state (‘soul painting’). From
Melancholy (Edvard Munch) represented by the undulating shoreline and skylines that extend toward the left. Critics suggest that there are also erotic allusions, perhaps in the presence of the moon reflected on the water. The landscape represents Asgardstrand's beach where Munch spent his summers from 1889. "Melancholy" was exhibited in 1891 at the Autumn Exhibition in Oslo. The artist and journalist Christian Krohg credited it as the first Symbolist painting by a Norwegian artist. Munch painted more than one version of the composition in 1891. A version completed in 1892–93 is in the National Gallery, Oslo. Melancholy (Edvard Munch) Melancholy (Norwegian: Melankoli ;