Edvard Munch was a Norwegian painter. His best known work, The Scream (1893), has become one of western art’s most iconic images. He was a prolific yet perpetually troubled artist, often preoccupied with matters of human mortality such as chronic illness, sexual liberation, and religious aspiration. He expressed these obsessions through works of intense color, semi-abstraction, and mysterious subject matter.
As his fame and wealth grew, his emotional state remained insecure. He briefly considered marriage, but could not commit himself. A mental breakdown in his forties forced him to give up heavy drinking.
Munches later years were spent in Oslo, Norway, working in peace and privacy. Although his works were banned in Nazi-occupied Europe, most of them survived World War II, securing his legacy.