THE TROUBLE WITH CREATING one of the most famous paintings of all time, is that the artist becomes synonymous with it, to the point where all their other endeavours appear to fade into the wallpaper. It’s easy to see how Edvard Munch could be seen in this context: The Scream is so famous and iconic it has inspired countless images in film whilst there is even an emoji based on it. That only one of his creations is so widely lauded is wholly unfitting for the man who loved his paintings so much he called them his children and died surrounded by thousands upon thousands of his works – from paintings and drawings to a broad range of prints.
Now, a collection of his works will be shown for the first time in the UK this summer at The Courtauld Gallery in London, laying bare exactly how much more there is to Munch will consist of 18 paintings, all of which belong to KODE in Bergen, Norway – Munch’s homeland – and were collected by Rasmus Meyer. “We are incredibly lucky that we have been lent such a great group of pictures,” says Dr Barnaby Wright, Deputy Head of The Courtauld Gallery and specialist in late 19th-century and 20th-century art. “Meyer was brilliant at putting together a collection where each picture marked a particular seminal moment for Munch. This is why the collection is so important.”
