Expressionist painter Edvard Munch (1863-1944) was born in Loten, Norway. He perhaps is best known for “The Scream” (1893), a painting that reveals his anxiety, alcoholism, and depression. He was weighed down by family members’ deaths when he was very young. Additional factors were his poor health and his father’s religious zeal and harsh discipline. As an expressionist he almost always chose emotion over realism.  Munch also painted many portraits and landscapes. He spent his life in Norway, with trips to Paris and Germany. 

“Winter in the Woods, Nordstrand” (1899)

This article on Munch’s lesser-known landscapes, winter settings in particular, explores a unique side of his work. By the time “Winter in the Woods, Nordstrand” (1899) (24”x 35”) (oil on cardboard) was painted, Munch had become known internationally. From 1899 through 1901, he painted several winter landscapes of the fjords at Nordstrand, south of Oslo. The setting of this piece is a dark spruce forest in the snow. No people are present, but footprints in the snow indicate that people recently had come this way. The heavy clumps of snow on the trees are fresh. The wind has not yet dislodged them. Munch used thick strokes of paint, but he let the tan cardboard show through in places. Like the Impressionists, whom he admired, he painted shadows in shades of blue. However, he also had a heavy hand with black. He was creating his personal style. 

The painting, often described as melancholy, is a close-up view of the forest, the sky not included in the scene. But the sun shines across the exposed ground and causes the snow to glow. Munch depicted nature as raw and powerful with his use of broad sweeping brushstrokes. He explained, “Painting picture by picture, I followed the impressions my eye took in at heightened moments. I painted only memories, adding nothing, no details that I did not see. Hence the simplicity of the paintings, their emptiness.”

“White Night” (1901)

In winter in Norway, “polar night,” the scientific term for the phenomena, occurs when the Sun remains below the horizon. The title of the painting, “White Night” (1901) (45’’x44”), actually refers to the same phenomenon that occurs during the summer. The whiteness of the snow prevents the winter polar night from becoming completely dark. Munch painted the dark silhouette of the trees in the foreground, the snow and tree shadows in the middle ground, a tan barn with a snow-covered roof, another stand of spruce trees, and the swirling waters of the fjord and coast in the distance. The sky is sunless, but not dark.  Munch’s use of black and cool blue colors produces the chill of the scene. Not at all depressing, the work is an expression of the beauty, power, and vast scope of nature’s many attitudes.

“Winter Landscape” (1901)

Munch painted numerous winter scenes, and like music, they are a theme and variations. “Winter Landscape” (1901) (32”x48”) focuses more on the field of white snow and the blue shadow cast by the spruce tree. Large red, brown, and black rocks stand out against the white snow. A row of shorter and taller trees in the distance also calls attention to the stars in the blue sky. Munch never tired of painting winter scenes

”New Snow” (1900-01)

“New Snow” (1900-01) (29’’x23’’) presents another view of a spruce forest. A wide road leads the viewer’s eye through the forest. It was well-used, but covered in fresh snow. Brown tree trunks are scattered through the forest and the spruce trees are painted fresh green. The stylized trees have just been covered by the stylized clumps of snow. Munch transformed the forest into something dreamlike, poetic, and timeless. 

Munch suffered a physical and mental breakdown sometime during the period of 1908 through 1909, and he checked himself into a private sanitarium. On recovering, he declared he had become a teetotaler and a vegetarian. He returned to the town of Kragero and settled in there. He wrote, “I am now working full time, I feel, it now seems as if I am at my artistic peak. Never has my work given me so much joy.”  He was honored in a Sonderbund exhibition in Copenhagen that included works by Van Gogh, Gauguin, and Picasso. Munch wrote, ”All the wildest things that have been painted in Europe are collected here–I am practically a pale classicist.”

Munch moved in 1916 to a country home in Ekely, near Oslo. The house, with a view of the city, sat on 11 acres that included an apple orchard. He built several studios. He lived a fairly isolated life and continued to paint landscapes. He nearly died during the 1919 Spanish flu epidemic.  During that time, he had several exhibitions in major European cities.

“Starry Night” (1922-24)

“Starry Night” (1922-24) (47”x39”) was one of the night sky series Munch painted from the top steps of his veranda. He often depicted himself as a lone shadow on the snow as he does here. Munch, the only figure in some of his paintings, is interpreted as loneliness and solitude which he preferred. He does include a view of the distant city. It is in the vastness of nature that human fragility, his own and humans in general, can be felt. There is a sense of life and time passing. 

In this later style, Munch used more varied and more vivid colors. The color red carries through the work: the red of the veranda in the foreground, the red in the bridge, the red house with the white windows in the middle ground, the pink sky created by the Sun’s position below the horizon, and the reds and pinks in the stars set in the dark blue heaven. He often depicted the constellations of Jupiter or the Pleiades that intensified his sense of the celestial world.

The expressionism of Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” (1889) and Munch’s “Starry Night” often have been compared. Both works are considered masterpieces.

“Winter in Kragero” (1925-31)

Munch moved to Kragero in 1908 after his nervous breakdown. He found the light and environment stimulating. He began painting urban scenes in 1909. “Winter in Kragero” (1925-31) (54”x59”) is a depiction of the city from a distance. The large yellow building at the right of the canvas is set next to the snow-covered roof of a house, neither painted in detail. A tall tree and a very slim tree stand on the diagonal slope that leads to the city. Kragero’s buildings rise up the hillside, and behind them are mountains. Although he frequently included scenes of towns in his work, these later paintings place the town at a distance.   

The Nazis designated Munch’s work as “degenerate art” in 1937, seized 82 of his paintings, and sold them to raise money.  The paintings were taken from German museums and Jewish collections.  A lost and then found Munch work “Dance on the Beach” (1906) sold at auction in 2023 for $22 million. Munch painted until he died on January 23, 1944. He willed to the city of Oslo his artwork and his collection of texts: 1150 paintings, 17,800 prints, 4,500 watercolors and drawings, 13 sculptures, his notebooks, and the plays and poems that he had written. The writings were unavailable to the public until January 1, 2015.  Munch was a major catalyst in the development of the Expressionist style that continues to be of major significance in the progress of 20th and 21st Century art. 

“Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye…it also includes the inner pictures of the soul.” (Edvard Munch)

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring to Chestertown with her husband Kurt in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and the Institute of Adult Learning, Centreville. An artist, she sometimes exhibits work at River Arts. She also paints sets for the Garfield Theater in Chestertown.

The chrysanthemum was noted as early as the 15th Century BCE in China. The boiled roots of the plant were used in a remedy for headaches. Chrysanthemum sprouts and petals were included in salads and soups. The sweet odor and beautiful colors made the flower a popular component of garlands and bouquets. Since the chrysanthemum bloomed late when other flowers were fading, it became a popular fall flower. By 1630 CE, 500 cultivars had been created, and the estimated number of Chinese cultivars by 2014 was 7,000.  More than 20,000 varieties of the chrysanthemum are recognized world-wide. 

The chrysanthemum has been associated with fall for hundreds of years because it blooms in the cooler weather of fall and early winter when other flowers have faded or died. It also is associated with strength against harsh conditions. It is associated with longevity because it grows in abundance every year, fidelity and optimism because it returns year after year, and joy because it blooms in such a variety of colors.

“White Chrysanthemums” (1654)

Chinese poet Qu Yuan (340-278 BCE) was one of the first to write poetry about mums. In his poem “Li Sao” he wrote, “Drink dew from the magnolia in the morning and take autumn chrysanthemum’s falling petals as food in the evening.” Xiang Shengmo’s “White Chrysanthemums” (1654) (31”x15.5’’) (hanging scroll) illustrates the beauty of the flowers, leaves, stems, and buds of the mum. The upright strength of the mum is depicted in the composition. No stem breaks or bends, and buds branch out at all points. 

Xiang Shengmo was born during the Qing dynasty (1644-1911), founded by the Manchus. Art and literature flourished during the period, but European art was beginning to influence traditional Eastern art. Xiang was fortunate to have grown up with his grandfather’s huge collection of historic Chinese painting and calligraphy.

“Chrysanthemums” (1723-35)

Lang Shining (1688-1766) was born Guiseppe de Castiglione in Milan, Italy. He entered the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Genoa at age 19. He remained a lay brother rather than becoming a priest. He worked in Lisbon for several years until Qianlong, the Emperor of China in the Qing dynasty, became interested in employing European Jesuits in China to train Chinese people in various fields, one of which was painting. Qianlong’s reign is considered to be the Golden Age of China. Castiglione reached Macau in August 1715 and Beijing a year later. He served the next three Qing emperors. He adopted the Chinese name Lang Shining.     

Castiglione/Shining’s “Chrysanthemums” (1723-35) (silk with tempera) is one of hundreds of his paintings of flowers, birds, landscapes, battle scenes, and portraits. Shining uses the Chinese style of composition, the delicate balance between objects and empty space. His details of the flowers, leaves, and birds are more specific without being overwhelming. Shining used the technique of chiaroscuro, strong contrast between light and dark, to create depth, for example, in the rendering of the leaves from light to dark greens The white chrysanthemum petals are delineated with light gray paint. Shining mastered the difficult process of painting on silk with tempera, a water-based paint. With too much water, the color runs through the silk, and there is no way to save the work. He died in Beijing in 1766 and is buried there. His obituary was written by the Emperor Qianlong, and a stone monument was erected.

“Chrysanthemums in a Deep Ravine in China” (1840s)

The chrysanthemum arrived in Japan in the 5th Century CE, and the popularity of the plant spread throughout Japan, including royalty and commoners alike. The chrysanthemum was a symbol of autumn, harvest, longevity, rejuvenation, and good will. White chrysanthemums were used at funerals. Many families incorporated the chrysanthemum into their seals. The yellow chrysanthemum, the color of the sun, was adopted as the symbol of the Imperial family.  It is used in the Imperial Seal of Japan, and the Japanese throne is known as the Chrysanthemum Throne. The Supreme Order of the Chrysanthemum is the highest honor the government can award.

“Chrysanthemums in a Deep Ravine in China” (1840s) is a woodcut print on a fan by the famous Japanese artist Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858). Hiroshige detailed the separate petals of the flowers, and they are large blossoms typical of the flowers cultivated in Japan. Hiroshige also includes a reference to a Japanese tale. The seated figure in the yellow box is a favored young attendant of the Emperor Mu Wang (1007-947 BCE) who was forced into exile by jealous rivals at court. Before the attendant was exiled, the Emperor taught his servant a Buddhist verse. It was said the young attendant wrote the verse on petals of chrysanthemums so he would not forget them. The petals became known as an elixir of eternal youth.

“White and Yellow Chrysanthemums in the Garden at Petit Gennevilliers” (1893)

Pierre Louis Blancard, a French merchant, brought chrysanthemums from China in 1688. Scottish botanist Robert Fortune brought 250 new varieties from China and Japan in 1846. The Chrysanthemum became a symbol of friendship and love in France, England, and America. 

“White and Yellow Chrysanthemums in the Garden at Petit Gennevilliers” (1893) (29’’x34’’) was painted by Gustave Caillebotte. He and Claude Monet, both well-known painters, were great friends, drawn together by art and gardening. Caillebotte made six large, close-up paintings of chrysanthemums in 1893. The Victorians’ obsession with flowers led to the development of the language of flowers. White chrysanthemums, often included in funeral bouquets and wreaths, became associated with mourning. They also are associated with loyalty, honesty, and innocence. Golden yellow mums represent wealth, the sun, happiness, celebration, and longevity.  Pink mums represent attraction and romance–red mums, love and passion.  Violet mums were given to the ill, as a wish for return to health. Caillebotte delineates the individual petals, uses bright colors, and portrays sunlight light dancing across the canvas.  

“Chrysanthemums in the Garden at Giverny” (1897) was painted by Caillebotte’s fellow flower and garden enthusiast Claude Monet. Monet’s obsession with waterlilies is well-known, but he also was drawn to Japanese woodcuts made by Hokusai and others, who did not use European perspective. This piece is one of several in Monet’s “Large Flower” series, through which he experimented with the Japanese style. Monet’s garden was his pride and joy, and he designed his garden by color and contrast. He does not delineate each petal in each flower, but paints just enough to let the viewer know the flowers are mums. The painting is a luscious riot of colors.

Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring to Chestertown with her husband Kurt in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and the Institute of Adult Learning, Centreville. An artist, she sometimes exhibits work at River Arts. She also paints sets for the Garfield Theater in Chestertown.