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Beyond 'The Scream:' Edvard Munch's Work On Display In Tacoma

Edvard Munch loved to paint outdoors.

“He actually left his paintings outside in all kinds of weather,” said Margaret Bullock, curator of collections at the Tacoma Art Museum. “There’s pictures of him painting in the snow, and pictures leaning up against the wall, in snowdrifts.”

They were exposed to salt air. Sand. Dirt. Bird droppings.

“He thought it was good for their character,” Bullock said.

As a result, many of Munch’s works had to be painstakingly restored, and are now too delicate to travel. Still, 26 pieces have made the trip to Tacoma, for an exhibition at the Tacoma Art Museum.

“Edvard Munch and the Sea” celebrates the artist’s work depicting the coastlines of Norway – many of which bear a striking resemblance to terrain here in the Northwest.

Many of the pieces on display come from the collection of Sarah Epstein and her family. She fell in love with Munch’s work while a student in Boston in 1950.

“I was dating a young man from MIT who liked modern art. One day he said to me, there’s a retrospective of a Norwegian artist, Edvard Munch,” Epstein said. “And I went and … he was my artist for life.”

Her love of Munch lasted longer than her love of the date. She married someone else (also a Munch fan, as it turned out), and started acquiring many of Munch’s prints.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQgjnA-jKWI&feature=youtu.be

Edvard Munch’s life was hard. His mother died when he was 4. His sister died when he was 13. His father died when Munch was in his early 20s. 

His work is known for its emotion – moving, fluid lines that show human expressions and moody scenes.

And having his prints on display in Tacoma is “surreal,” Bullock said. 

The show runs through July 17.

Ed Ronco is a former KNKX producer and reporter and hosted All Things Considered for seven years.