Clustered
around the head of the 68-mile-long Oslofjord, Oslo is probably the most
spacious city in the world. Its 175-square-mile metropolitan area
consists of over 75 percent forests and five percent water. Its fine
deep harbor, Pipervika, stretches into the heart of the city and from it
leave ferries to Denmark and Germany.
Edvard
Munch, notably Scandinavia's greatest artist, pioneered in the
expressionist movement., He painted is his best-known painting, The
Scream, in 1893. Growing up in Oslo, then called Christiania, he was
often ill. Early memories of illness, death, and grief in his family had
a tremendous impact on his later works. His father's death may have
contributed to the loneliness and melancholy of one of his most famous
works, Night , painted in1890.
By the early 1890s, Munch had
achieved renown. He was at the center of a succes de scandale in
Munich in 1892, when his art was interpreted as "anarchistic
provocation." Authorities closed a major exhibit of his work due to
protest.
Munch traveled to Berlin, where
he joined a world of literati, artists, and intellectuals. Among them
was August Strindberg, who discussed the philosophy of Nietzsche,
symbolism, psychology, and occultism with Munch. These discussions
clearly influenced his work. He revealed his growing outlook to the
world in an 1893 show in Berlin, where several paintings had death as
their theme. Death in a Sickroom created quite a stir.
In 1896 Munch moved to Paris,
where he made exquisite color lithographs and his first woodcuts. By the
turn of the century he began painting in a larger format and
incorporating some of the Art Nouveau aesthetics of the time. Red
Virginia Creeper and Melancholy reflects these new influences.
A nervous disorder sent him to
a sanitarium, where he had a turbulent love affair with a wealthy
bohemian nicknamed "Tuna." The affair ended in 1902 when a
revolver permanently injured a finger on Munch's left hand. He became
obsessed with the shooting incident, and poured out his contempt for
"Tuna" in such works as Death of Murat, painted in
1907.
Prominent people asked Munch to
paint their portraits, so he did. The group portrait of Dr. Linde's
sons, painted in1904 is a masterpiece of modern portraiture. Munch
became increasingly alcoholic, and in 1906 painted Self-Portrait
with a Bottle of Wine.
From 1909 until his death,
Munch lived in Norway. In his later years he retreated into isolation,
surrounded only by his paintings, which he called "my
children." The older Munch placed more emphasis on the monumental
and the picturesque, as in landscapes or people in harmony with nature.
In 1940, he decided to leave
his huge collection of paintings to the city of Oslo upon his death.
Today, the Munch Museum, featuring works illustrating all phases of his
artistic development, provides the best introduction to this strange and
enigmatic artist. As has been the case with so many famous artists,
Munch's fame is far greater today than it was during his lifetime.
Every year about 95 000 people die in
Sweden and, according to the law, everyone must be buried. There must be
room for everyone in the cemeteries, therefore the future needs of space
have to be predicted. Because of this funerals must be part of the
planning process.
In
the early Middle Ages, driven by famine at home and the promise of
wealth to be had in other lands, the Vikings set out from Scandinavia to
conquer parts of England, Ireland, France, Russia, and even Turkey.
Bolstered by their successes, the Vikings pushed westward, eventually
crossing the North Atlantic and founding settlements in Iceland,
Greenland, and Newfoundland in Canada. Read
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