Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863 -1944) was active for more than 60 years – from the 1880s until his death. He was a prolific artist whose range, and volume, of work is staggering. On his death, he bequeathed to the city of Oslo, 1008 painting, 4,443 drawings, and 15,391 prints in addition to etchings, lithographs, woodcuts etc. All of which makes it even more ironic that today he is known the world over for one single image – the iconic Scream.
Munch experimented in different movements – from Pointillism to Expressionism. Yet, it is in his sorrowful paintings that he reveals his soul and shares the enduring sadness he felt after the death of his mother and then his sister.
Munch being Caillebotte
Edvard Munch, Music on the Karl Johan Street (1889)
Munch being Seurat
Edvard Munch, The Seine at Saint-Cloud (1890)
Munch being Manet
Edvard Munch, Rue Lafayette (1891)
Munch being Sisley
Edvard Munch, The Seine at Saint-Cloud (1890)
Munch being Cezanne
Edvard Munch, The Scientists (1911)
Munch being Gauguin
Edvard Munch, Girl Under Apple Tree (1904)
Munch being Matisse
Edvard Munch, On the Sofa (1913)
Munch being Van Gogh
Edvard Munch, Train Smoke (1900), Train Smoke (1900), Elm Forest in Spring (1923)
And finally, Munch being Munch
Edvard Munch, Sanatorium (1902-03), Separation (1896), By The Death Bed (1896)
Hank Willis Thomas & Emily Shur, Reimagined Norman Rockwell Freedom From Want (2018)
A lot of different flowers make a bouquet (Muslim proverb)
Henry Ossawa Tanner, The Thankful Poor (1894)
Enough is a feast.
Buddhist proverb
Jean-Francois Millet, The Angelus (1857 – 1859)
Let gratitude be the pillow upon which you kneel to say your nightly prayer. And let faith be the bridge you build to overcome evil and welcome good (Maya Angelou).
Paul Gauguin, The Meal (1891)
Piglet noticed that even though he had a very small heart, it could hold rather a large amount of gratitude (A.A. Milne).
John Singer Sargent, A Dinner Table at Night (1884)
Wear gratitude like a cloak, and it will feed every corner of your life.
Rumi
Norman Rockwell, Family Grace 1938
For me every hour is grace.. Elie Wiesel
(Images courtesy Google Arts & Culture, Musee d’Orsay, Met Museum).
When I was looking at Paul Gauguin’s Still Life with Peonies (1884), I noticed something interesting – there’s an Edgar Degas ballerina painting in the background. What is the other painting in the background? I think it’s a Cezanne painting, but I haven’t been able to find the exact painting yet. I noticed Gauguin does this a lot – in many of his still life paintings, there is another painting in the background – almost like an homage to an artist friend or an artist he admired.
Nature Morte aux Tomatoes (1883) – with a Van Gogh in the background, the brushstrokes are characteristic of Van Gogh
Paul Gauguin (1848 – 1903), the French Post-Impressionist artist is most well known for the paintings he made while living in Tahiti. Gauguin was a friend of Camille Pissaro, Paul Cezanne, Degas, and even Van Gogh – with Cezanne having the biggest influence on him. He collected artworks of both Degas and Cezanne, many of which appear in the background of his works.
Sunflowers on an Armchair (1901) & Still Life with Cherries (1886) both pay homage to Van Gogh – through the Sunflowers in the foreground and a Van Gogh painting in the background of the second one.Woman in Front of a Still Life by Cezanne (1890) – this one is titled with the background paintingThis is Hope (1901) shows two paintings in the background. The top one is French artist Pierre Puvis de Chavannes’s (1824 – 1898) painting titled Hope. The bottom one is an etching by Edgar Degas.
Still Life with Japanese Print, and, Still Life with Head-Shaped Vase and Japanese Woodcut – both have a Japanese print in the background. Interestingly, the painting on the left in the background, at first glance looked like a Gustav Klimt painting to me!!
Maurice Denis, Homage to Cezanne (1900)
In an interesting turn of events, French artist Maurice Denis (1870 – 1943) pays homage to Cezanne and indirectly to Gauguin and Renior in this painting. The painting in the front easel is Cezanne’s Fruit Bowl, Glass, and Apples (1879) which was owned by Gauguin. Hanging on the back wall of the gallery are a Gauguin and a Renoir painting
(Images courtesy Google Arts & Culture &National Museum of Australia)
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