Eduard Munch :: essays research papers

Eduard Munch (1863-1944) was a Norwegian painter, engraver, and printer. He is often reputed to watch been a loner and a misogynist. Many of his bring ins revolve around a motif concerning women and their obscene vulgarity. The two works that will be expound here are Vampire (1893) and Jealousy (1896). These two depict women as creatures of temptation, petty provokers of pain, and selfish enslavers of vulnerable men. To just marginally understand Munchs hatred of women, one must read upon his tragic past. Tuberculosis killed his mother when he was only five years old it killed his sister, Sophie (whom Munch felt nearest to), nine years later. In addition to these tragic events were his unsuccessful love affairs which all together bludgeoned his faith in women. In Vampire, Munch displays a scene in which a woman seems to be embracing a man. She appears to be kissing him on the neck, but the title of the work diminishes that meaning. Although Munch intend the action of the work as just a kiss, he later changed the name to Vampire, possibly to capitalize on the 19th century literary arrested development with vampires. The intense switch in meaning plays on the mind of the viewer very curiously. It turns from compassion for the two lovers to sympathy and sorrow for the victimized man. The womans red hair becomes almost demonic and the backgrounds sinisterness transforms from a sorrow-filled unity between the two figures to a desolate ambiance of confusion. The dark green in the background is tranquil, but the viewers knowledge of the situation happening to the vulnerable man leaves the viewer in a province of ambiguity. A peaceful image is portrayed, but the woman is literally sucking the life out of the man. The red hair can be seen as a rainfall of blood emasculating the victim. The man has been deceived into finding love where there is unhappiness. He has found the tortures of being in love. The distorted and tangled strokes in the whole work represent th e mans faith in love being distorted and tangled. The strokes can also portray the womans deception, which is so put on by her loving embrace. Jealousy also carries the tormented-man motif. In this scene, a woman is chatting with and exposing her body to a man as her husband stands by, swallowing his painful jealousy. The husbands face is close-up and facing the viewer, demonstrating his quiet enragement.