Edvard Munch: Behind The Scream by Sue Prideaux (PDF)

Description

Although almost everyone recognizes Edvard Munch’s famous painting The Scream, hardly anyone knows much about the man. What kind of person could have created this universal image, one that so vividly expressed all the uncertainties of the twentieth century? What kind of experiences did he have? In this book, the first comprehensive biography of Edvard Munch in English, Sue Prideaux brings the artist fully to life. Combining a scholar’s precision with a novelist’s insight, she explores the events of his turbulent life and unerringly places his experiences in their intellectual, emotional, and spiritual contexts.With unlimited access to tens of thousands of Munch’s papers, including his letters and diaries, Prideaux offers a portrait of the artist that is both intimate and moving. Munch sought to paint what he experienced rather than what he saw, and as his life often veered out of control, his experiences were painful. Yet he painted throughout his long life, creating strange and dramatic works in which hysteria and violence lie barely concealed beneath the surface. An extraordinary genius, Munch connects with an audience that reaches around the world and across more than a century.

User’s Reviews

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐As a long time fan of Edvard Munch’s art, this is the best of all the biographies I’ve read about the artist including his own private dairy. “The Private Journals of Edvard Munch: We Are Flames Which Pour Out of the Earth” by Munch and translated by J. Gill Holland (no relation to this reviewer) should also be checked out by Munch admirers. Sorry about that digression–back to this wonderful biography. Sue Prideaux’s nearly four-hundred page history first caught my attention on the “New Releases” tables of at the Boston Antheaum. After leafing through the volume, I immediately ordered my own copy because I knew it was a book in which I’d want to dog-ear pages and scribble comments in the book’s margins. The beginning of the book was difficult to read. Munch’s father was a religious zealot who made his living as a physician. Unfortunately, even with his own family, he seemed more interested in saving a person’s soul than sometimes saving their life or curing them of their ailments. His very fanaticism overwhelmed Young Edvard Munch and the rest of his family. Munch’s mother and sister died of TB and he himself barely survived it in his youth. The author’s description of life in the Munch household was so depressing that it almost made me stop reading. It was certainly not a good advertisement for practicing this brand of Christianity. It’s little wonder that in adulthood Edvard Munch became addicted to acholol and drugs. He was afraid to give them up because he felt his inspiration was one of the results of the drunken fog that often enveloped him. Once he finally committed himself for treatment, he was forced to clean up his act and he discovered his inspiration wasn’t coming from a bottle. This book is a wonderful portrait of Munch and the era in which he lived. Germany was the country that first recognized and rewarded his genius. Munch’s many phobias make him a fascinating character to study. Considering his own personal demon’s, his artworks are actually quite tame. Learn why when he begrudingly sold one of his paintings, he’d immediatley paint another version to replace that lost child at his dinner table. Even though the Nazi’s ordered all his work to be destroyed, Hilter’s chief aides praised and collected it for their personal collections. Throughout the book the reader can only be amazed that either Munch or his work actually managed to survive the chaos that surrounded him during his entire lifetime. He was certainly an eccentric by any definition of the term.

⭐As I was fortunate to visit the Munch Museum/Restaurant in Oslo, I have long been intrigued by the artist and wanted explore his life’s story. I am enjoying it. The writing style is a bit bland, I would not know how to compare to another author, same subject. I shall finish it … it has been very informative … lots of Norway history … as one good Norse to another.

⭐Biographies that are well researched are often dull and the lively ones are often loose with the facts. This book is an exception. It is very readable, yet relies on extensive research. The author combines the qualities of novelist and art historian. Sue Prideaux also places Munch within the context of the social, historical and artistic movements of the time. Anyone interested in the life and work of Edvard Munch should read this book. Highly recommended!

⭐A very thorough Munch biography with well organized pictures throughout, including plate-number references beside the paragraphs enabling you to flip back and forth to each artwork as the author analyzes, explains, and interprets, frequently using the author’s own prolific words.

⭐Munch’s correlation between life and artistic work is unusually close.He created a body of work that was intensely personal.Sue Prideaux introduces the reader to what kind of person has createdthis extraordinary art and she does it very well. This compelling bookreveals the life and work of a fascinating man and is invaluable foranyone interested in a captivating saga.

⭐Good price. Fantastic book. A bit depressing but what else would you expect??

⭐I’ve always admired Munch’s works of art and I really don’t like that the people think of him just as “the guy who painted The Scream”. He is so much more and this book is masterfully written by a someone who has done a thorough investigation on his life. This book helps understanding the artist better and makes me yearn for another travel to Norway and all the places his works are.

⭐I loved this book. I totally recomend it. It takes you through Munch life’s, the historical and artistic events of his life. Very well researched and written.

⭐The Kindle edition of this book is extremely disappointing – there are no reproductions of Munch’s work. The author writes in considerable detail about a number of his paintings and graphic works and their significance in his life and career, often repeatedly referring to them, but the reader cannot see with their own eyes what is being discussed. It is a major failing in a book about an artist’s life. The text is very good, well written, moving and insightful but without the ability to refer directly to Munch’s work we are somewhat at a disadvantage, to put it mildly, in testing the veracity of these insights or any of the author’s references. Completely unacceptable, especially when you consider the price of the Kindle edition. Not worth it.

⭐This lengthy book gives one a good sense of Munch’s demons and the reasons for them. I got the impression it was rather one-sided about his relationships with women, only seen from his side. However, he was an amazing painter, and this book certainly helps one place his artistic creations in th context of his own life. It is well illustrated, with some of his best canvases reproduced in colour, as well as many black-and-white photos.

⭐Il libro è scritto abbastanza bene ed è assolutamente valido e consigliato agli amanti di Munch.Purtroppo le tantissime foto presenti sono tutte in toni di grigio, molto slavate, praticamente inutili.

⭐

⭐I never received the book, you should not trust this salesman

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