The Story of Edvard Munch Ketil Bjornstad

Using Edvard Munch"s own letters and diaries, those of his contemporaries and friends, and newspapers and journals of the time, this literary biography presents a picture of the artist as unsparing and true as any of his self-portraits. Damaged in childhood by appalling family tragedies, the Norwegian painter was obsessed with sickness, insanity, and death. His tortured and shockingly personal art, while at first provoking outrage, eventually gained him fame, wealth, and the respect of the art establishment that had previously shunned him. In reconstructing Munch"s life, the author has incorporated the artist"s public work and private words to make a dark, revelatory biography that reads like a novel.