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Exhibition organized by NPG and presented by Kunstsilo
Throughout his career, Edvard Munch created portraits of family, friends, lovers, writers, artists, patrons, and collectors – as well as a wide range of self-portraits.
With energetic brushstrokes, bold colour, and great variation in format, framing, and background, Munch approached the portrait genre in an exploratory and expressive way. Still, portraits have often remained in the background when Munch’s work is presented to the public.
The exhibition Edvard Munch Portraits was first shown at the National Portrait Gallery in London in spring 2025, and was the first exhibition in the UK to focus on this important, yet sometimes overlooked, aspect of Munch’s practice.
When Kunstsilo now presents the exhibition in a new version here in Norway, it is precisely because it offers a slightly different perspective on the artist than we are used to.
By telling the stories of the people Munch portrayed – and his relationships to them – the exhibition reveals Munch’s life in a broader social context. Instead of repeating the familiar myth of the solitary artist, the exhibition highlights how Munch was surrounded by close family, friends, and dedicated supporters, and how, as a professional artist, he undertook commissions and was an active part of an intellectual bourgeoisie in both the Nordic countries and across Europe.
The exhibition has been developed in close collaboration with curator Alison Smith, and with generous support from the National Portrait Gallery. Loans and dialogue with The Munch Museum have been instrumental, in addition to generous contributions from The National Museum of Norway, KODE, Moderna Museet, Thielska Galleriet, Göteborgs Konstmuseum, Statens Museum for Kunst, Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt in Halle (Germany), and several private lenders.
The exhibition also gives Kunstsilo an opportunity to highlight Portrait of Klemens Stang – the only painting by Edvard Munch in the collection of Christianssands Picture Gallery – along with several graphic portraits from our collection.
