Edvard Munch’s Collection of Drawing Materials: Crayon Characterization

This paper contains an interpretation of the results obtained from Fourier Transform Infrared micro-spectroscopy (µ-FTIR) and Pyrolysis - Gas Chromatography coupled with Mass Spectrometry (Py-GC-MS) techniques applied on the crayons used by Edvard Munch (1863-1944) and now stored at the Munch Museum (MUNCH). Around 100 of different brands from Edvard Munch’s collection of reference materials available at the Munch Museum were analyzed. Micro-destructive methods as µ-FTIR and Py-GC-MS were used to characterize the constituent materials of crayon samples, with a special focus on organic binding medium, to allow the classification of different brands of crayons. Two natural waxes (beeswax and carnauba wax) were identified by µ-FTIR, but the most specific chemical information on wax mixtures was attained by Py-GC-MS. The present study adds more analytical data on Edvard Munch’s legacy and was developed under the framework of the collaborative research project “THE SCREAM-Touchstone for Heritage Endangered by Salt Crystallization: a Research Enterprise on the Art of Munch” between the HERCULES Laboratory and the Munch Museum in Oslo

“El grito” y “La noche estrellada”: emociones, símbolos y motivos

Starry Night & The Scream is the best known painting by Vincent van Gogh and Edvard Munch that symbolize fusion of life. The oil on canvas painting technique possesses multiple interpretations; one evident theme is Van Gogh’s communication and Edvard Munch feelings and vision of vastness. Edvard Munch (Scream) and Vincent van Gogh has brought art and life together by communicating using their own personal phenomena experiences and passionately. The expression of universal approach and human mind has really created a journeying of psychological circumstances having a universal appeal which still communicates to us every human being today. Therefore, this research will look into the connotation of symbols or meaning of two great drawings that has certainly not just a painting but also sense of human iconic juxtaposed between art and realism of life.“La noche estrellada” y “El grito” son las pinturas más conocidas de Vincent van Gogh y de Edvard Munch respectivamente. Edvard Munch y Vincent van Gogh han llevado al arte la comunicación de la vida, de sus propias experiencias personales y de sus pasiones. Una comunicación con un enfoque universal en la mente humana, creadora realmente de un conjunto de circunstancias psicológicas con atractivo universal, algo que todavía nos comunica todo ser humano. Por lo tanto, esta investigación se centrará en la connotación de símbolos y en el significado de dos grandes dibujos que, además de pinturas, representan también el sentido icónico de lo humano, un sentido yuxtapuesto entre el arte y el realismo de la vida

The Study of Edvard Munch sketches collection in view of it's conservative treatment

Edvard Munch (1863–1944), a Norwegian painter, was one of the most renowned artists of the19th and 20th century. Munch produced great artworks where among them in the “Scream”, one of the most famous paintings in the world. In 1914 Edvard Munch was commissioned to decorate the new assembly hall at the University of Oslo. Munch’s paintings in the University Aula have become a major work within Norwegian monumental painting. Edvard Munch had used fifteen large canvases as sketches for the Aula Magna paintings. These canvases were stored by being exposed to extreme outside environmental conditions and now they present salt efflorescences on their surface and are in dire need of conservation. Therefore, it is the main goal of the present thesis to find novel solutions / products in order to remove and/or stabilize these salts. For this purpose, mock-ups that imitate the structure and composition of Munch’s sketches were created and artificially aged to create salts on their surface (mainly calcium and magnesium sulfates). And for the cleaning solutions / products, agarose and polyacrylamide gels (both plain and loaded gels with various cleaning solutions) were created. These gels were then systematically tested on the mock-ups at multiple time steps in order to determine their efficiency in the removal of salts. FT-IR-ATR, XRD and SEM-EDS were used to characterize the mock-ups, the salts and the sample mock-ups after various gel treatments. Laboratory analyses provided new insights into the ‘cleaning’ capabilities of various agarose and polyacrylamide tested gels; RESUMO: “Estudo da colecção de esboços de Edvard Munch com vista ao seu tratamento de conservação” Edvard Munch (1863–1944), pintor Norueguês, foi um dos artistas mais conceituados nos séculos XIX e XX. Munch produziu grandes obras de arte, entre as quais o “grito”, uma das pinturas mais famosas do mundo. Em 1914, Edvard Munch foi contratado para decorar o novo salão de reuniões da Universidade de Oslo. As pinturas de Munch da Aula da Universidade tornaram-se numa das obras mais importantes da pintura monumental norueguesa. Edvard Munch utilizou quinze telas de grandes dimensões para o esboço das pinturas da Aula Magna. Estas telas foram armazenadas sendo expostas a condições ambientais extremas e agora apresentam eflorescências salinas na sua superfície e precisam urgentemente de tratamento de conservação. Assim, esta dissertação tem como objetivo principal encontrar novas soluções/produtos para a remoção e/ou estabilização destes sais. Para tal, foram criados provetes com estrutura e composição similares aos dos esboços de Munch e estes foram envelhecidos artificialmente para fazer cristalizar sais na sua superfície (principalmente sulfatos de cálcio e magnésio). Para as soluções/produtos de limpeza, foram criados géis de agarose e poliacrilamida (géis simples e carregados com várias soluções de limpeza). Esses géis foram testados sistematicamente nos provetes criados para o efeito, com vários tempos de aplicação, para determinar a sua eficiência na remoção destes sais. FT-IR-ATR, XRD e SEM-EDS foram as técnicas utilizadas para caracterização dos provetes, dos sais e dos provetes após vários tempos de aplicação dos géis. As análises laboratoriais permitiram introduzir novos conhecimentos sobre as capacidades de "limpeza" de vários géis testados de agarose e poliacrilamida e respetivas formulções

Authentic Dasein and the anxious uncanny

The philosophical reader cannot help but notice that some of the major assertions of Immanuel Kant and Martin Heidegger are thematically intertwined. Perhaps even more clearly, the viewer who approaches the work of Edvard Munch with a philosophical frame of mind will discover how the thoughts of Kant and Heidegger often illuminate key aspects of his paintings. Authentic Dasein and the Anxious Uncanny strives to analyze the main works of Edvard Munch, the father of Expressionism. This thesis uses Heidegger\u27s concepts of anxiety and being-towards-death, as well as Kant\u27s notion of the Sublime as laced with anxiety, to re-examine nineteen of the artist\u27s masterpieces. The first chapter explores the relationship between Kant and Munch, while the second focuses on artist\u27s works through the philosophy of Heidegger. The third and concluding chapter brings together Kant and Heidegger through a series of paintings to demonstrate how Munch\u27s achievement can be interpreted philosophically

Exhibition review

English Reviews two exhibitions of paintings by Beauford Delaney and Edvard Munch (Atlanta, High Museum of Art, 9 Feb-5 May 2002)

Staging Subjectivity: Love and Loneliness in the Scene of Painting with Charlotte Salomon and Edvard Munch

This paper proposes a conversation between Charlotte Salomon (1917–43) and Edvard Munch that is premised on a reading of Charlotte Salomon’s monumental project of 784 paintings forming a single work Leben? oder Theater? (1941–42) as itself a reading of potentialities for painting, as a staging of subjectivity in the work of Edvard Munch, notably in his assembling paintings to form the Frieze of Life. Drawing on both Mieke Bal’s critical concept of “preposterous history” and my own project of “the virtual feminist museum” as a framework for tracing resonances that are never influences or descent in conventional art historical terms, this paper traces creative links between the serial paintings of these two artists across the shared thematic of loneliness and psychological extremity mediated by the legacy of Friedrich Nietzsche

Edvard Munch y la Momia de un sarcófago de la Cultura Chachapoyas

En 1978 el historiador de arte Robert Rosenblum deduce que la figura central del famoso cuadro El grito de Edvard Munch fue inspirada por una momia peruana, la misma que inspiró a Paul Gauguin en una serie de sus cuadros.El presente artículo presentará nuevas evidencias que confirman dicha hipótesis, rechazando otras alternativas. Así mismo revisará otros cuadros de Munch con respeto a una posible relación con la misma momia.Palabras clave: Perú, Chachapoyas, momia, sarcófago, Historia de Arte, Edvard Munc