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
Andreas Munch collection ¨"Digte, gamle og nye" in 1848, and "Nye Digte" in 1850. His poetry collection "Sorg og Trøst" from 1852 was written after the death of his wife and son. In 1866 Edvard Grieg composed music to the poem "Vuggesang" from this collection, published as Opus 9 together with three other songs with text by Munch. In "Vuggesang" the father sings for his newborn son after the mother's death. In the 1850s he wrote three historic plays in verse, "Salomon de Caus" (1854), "En Aften paa Giske" (1855), and "Lord William Russell" (1857). Munch was granted a poet's pension by