PRESS RELEASE – 3 JUNE 2024
NEW COLLECTION DISPLAY AT MUNCH: SEE EDVARD MUNCH TOGETHER WITH ARTISTS OF HIS TIME
The exhibition Edvard Munch Horizons has just opened. It presents Edvard Munch alongside a range of other artists and shows ways in which he maintained an artistic dialogue with his times.
In this exhibition visitors can explore Munch’s place in the history of modern art. It shows how Munch can be seen in the light of other artists, and how his art is closely connected with the artistic movements of his time. Through several thematic perspectives, it presents a complex picture of Munch’s place in the history of this period, mainly between the years of 1890 to 1950.
Ideas of the subjective and the expressive were important to Munch and many other artists in this period. Psychological, social and political issues were also high on the agenda for many artists, in an age preoccupied with unrest and enormous social change. The exhibition also draws attention to the ways artists at this time explored painterly form through abstraction and free use of colour.
– This exhibition outlines a large art historical landscape, says senior curator Lars Toft-Eriksen, featuring a number of artists who can be seen together with Munch – whether in terms of influence or more general tendencies that characterised art during this period. The exhibition places Munch’s work in an art historical context and presents a more complex picture of him and his place in history.
– The exhibition is a significant and important commitment for the museum, since it paints a picture of Edvard Munch that complements and enriches our presentation of him as an artist, says museum director Tone Hansen.
– With the generous gift of Rolf Stenersen as a starting point, we have initiated collaborations involving long-term loans from the Savings Bank Foundation DNB, Canica Art Collection and the Vigeland Museum. This will allow us to tell a richer and more complex story, she continues.
As part of the exhibition, MUNCH has invited three contemporary artists to share their thoughts about it. Visitors will see Amir Asgharnejad, Hanan Benammar and Tyra Tingleff on individual screens, sharing their respective reflections on some of the issues raised by the exhibition.
