SUMMER IN ÅSGÅRDSTRAND – EDVARD MUNCH’S SYMBOLISTIC LANDSCAPES
SUMMER IN ÅSGÅRDSTRAND – EDVARD MUNCH’S SYMBOLISTIC LANDSCAPES

Summary/Abstract: Åsgårdstrand is a small coastal town located not far from Oslo on the western shore of Oslo Fjord. Painter Edvard Munch chose this town as the place to spend most of his summer months during almost three decades of his life in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The significant artistic body of work inspired by this place includes a considerable number of landscapes. Among them, it is possible to distinguish several main motifs that will mark Munch’s work. These include the specific shore of Åsgårdstrand, the surrounding forests, the blue color of the sky during summer twilight, the night sky filled with stars and moonlight. In some of his landscapes, Munch populates them with solitary human figures, making the nature surrounding them the scenery of the protagonist’s inner drama. Such an interpretation of Munch’s nature paintings brings him closer to the European tradition of Symbolist art, which views the landscape as a representation of the human soul. The work will show to what extent Munch’s summer landscapes in Åsgårdstrand are close to Symbolist art, analyzing several motifs: nature as a place of escape from the big city, national elements, and the erotic potential of the landscape.

• Details
• Contents