Edvard Munch "Between the Clock and the Bed" exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

I have to confess - I was never a fan of Edvard Munch nor of his iconic masterpiece "Scream". I love art that brings positive emotions and uplifts my mood. Obviously paintings that depict states of despair, anxiety, desolation, depression and melancholy are not my cup of tea. 

Nevertheless, I decided to check out the exhibition at the Met Breuer as David Hockney retrospective was going on at the Met at the same time.

I have to admit I love the new Met Breuer. It's nice to see a major exhibition in a separate space and it never seems to be as crowded as in the main building of the Met Museum on 5th avenue.

"Between the Clock and the Bed" exhibition features 43 paintings including 16 self-portraits and spanning from 1886 to 1943.

The exhibition didn't vastly change my views on Munch but I did enjoy it to some extent. First of all because I never liked his art I don't have any books with reproductions of his paintings. And I never made an effort to learn about the artist or to find his paintings online other than the very few famous ones.

The exhibition in this sense was educational. The Met did a great job providing some information about each painting besides the title and the year of creation. Reading the descriptions and studying the artwork I got a clearer sense of the artist's life full of torment and sadness.

Being a painter myself it's always interesting to see paintings up close to scrutinize paint application and brushstrokes. It was surprising to see how economic Munch was with his paint application yet liberated and loose with his marks on canvas.

I did like the paintings that have a more colorful palette, especially the ones with nude models like "Model by the Wicker Chair". It was also a treat to see Munch's earlier paintings that are very different from his later more famous ones.

Here are some photos from the exhibition:

Self-Portrait, 1886

Self-Portrait with Cigarette, 1895

Sick Mood at Sunset: Despair, 1892

Puberty, 1894

Madonna, 1895-97

Madonna, Ca. 1895-97?

The Sick Child, 1896

The Sick Child, 1907

Red Virginia Creeper, 1898-1900

Self-Portrait with a Bottle of Wine, 1906

The Death of Marat, 1907

Weeping Nude, 1913-14

Weeping Nude, close up from the side

Death Struggle, 1915

Model by the Wicker Chair, 1919-21

The Artist and His Model, 1919-21

Sleepless Night: Self-Portrait in Inner Turmoil, 1920

On the Veranda Stairs, 1922-24

Self-Portrait with Bottles, Ca. 1938

Self-Portrait by the Window, Ca. 1940

Please check out my paintings on my website. Thank you!