By Rebekah Skochinski
Unless you plan to visit Oslo, Norway, your best exposure to the works of Norwegian artist Edvard Munch is through the film Munch 150, which goes behind the scenes to show the process of mounting an exhibition and offers insight into one of the great pioneers of Expressionism. The film celebrates the 150th anniversary of Munch’s birth, chronicling his work from the mid-19th century through to the Second World War.
To witness Munch’s art fleshed out on the big screen, to see the scratches that he made with the back of a paint brush, or the purposeful swipes of crayon on one version of his best-known piece, The Scream, is quite remarkable. The film also provides an in-depth biography into some of his most honest thoughts (he wrote extensively in a journal), and the progression of his self-portraits from a young hopeful artist to a man nearing the end of his career is quite poignant.
Munch 150 is part of an Exhibition Series, Great Art on Screen, and will be shown at Thunder Bay’s Silver City on July 21 at 12:55 pm.
