Edvard Munch Portraits

Over Easter weekend, I went to the National Portrait Gallery to see the Edvard Munch: Portraits exhibition, which focuses largely on Munch's portraits of family, friends, and contemporaries. It’s rare to see Munch’s work in the UK, so this exhibition was a real treat.

The painting that moved me the most was Inger in Sunshine (1888), made when Munch was just 25. This relatively early painting depicts a thoughtful, calm, and self-contained figure — his sister Inger — who was a stabilising influence in Munch’s life. His other sister, Laura, by contrast, was institutionalised with what was then described as "melancholia."

About a year ago, I read Karl Ove Knausgaard’s So Much Longing in So Little Space: The Art of Edvard Munch, which delves into Munch's psychological portrayal of his subjects. Having now seen the exhibition, I’m reminded of the intensity of his work — and his ability to focus on emotional charge, often disregarding unnecessary detail and even anatomy at times. I wish I could avert my own focus when painting people and forget about superfluous detail. His paintings are never overworked — that is a skill! The absolute freedom he has with colour is refreshing.

"Inger in the Sunshine", 1888

Inger was Munch’s closest family member after the early deaths of their mother (when Munch was just five) and his younger sister Sophie (who died of tuberculosis at fifteen). His portrayals of Inger reflect his deeper preoccupations with loneliness, melancholy, and the quiet passage of life. Inger is often shown as calm and self-contained, in contrast to the more chaotic emotional states depicted in Munch's later works.

This exhibition is the first in the UK to focus on this sometimes overlooked aspect of the artist’s work — his portraits.