Munch's The Kiss: "I try to dissect souls"

Right: The Kiss, 1895. etching

Left: The Kiss, 1897. painting

These are two versions of Munch's "The kiss" that inspired Gustav Klimt's famous painting with the same title.

Some of Munch's quotations explain not only his intentions, and the expressionist attitude, but also distance him from impressionism:

"No longer shall I paint interiors, and people reading, and women knitting. I shall paint living people who breathe and feel and suffer and love."

"Certainly a chair can be just as interesting as a human being. But first the chair must be perceived by a human being... You should not paint the chair, but only what someone has felt about it."

"Just as Leonardo da Vinci studied human anatomy and dissected corpses, so I try to dissect souls."

"I do not paint what I see, but what I saw."

Edward Munch

Edvard Munch - "Seated Young Woman" and " Morning"

Edvard Munch's most famous work is "The Scream" and like Van Gogh his biography is a source of many approaches of his art. He is known to be a misogynist, crazy and many other aspects of his character are used to explain his work.

This is one of his views about art: "We want more than a mere photograph of nature. We do not want to paint pretty pictures to be hung on drawing-room walls. We want to create, or at least lay the foundations of an art that gives something to humanity. An art that arrests and engages. An art created of one's innermost heart." (E.Munch)

 I have published this post about two of his works that I find difficult to see any trace of misogyny. I don't know...

Munch, Rose and Amélie - Girls on a Pier

Left: Rose and Amélie, 1883 Right: Girls on a pier, 1901 Rose and Amélie is really a Munch's work.