Edvard Munch - from mortality & darkness to immortality & light : Documentary-Exhibition on screen: Munch 150 (2013)

It's probable that everyone on this planet has seen or heard or experienced artistic themes in movies/posters etc. about the painting "Scream" painted by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. But only a chosen few are now reading the full story of Edvard Munch on how he had a nervous breakdown, recovered and then created the most beautiful and resilient paintings until his death. The painting shown in this article is the testament to his later spirit of light even though he lived his whole life in darkness and may be even got born in darkness that way.

This author wanted to write something on Edvard Munch and his painting scream for a long time now but the way I saw it another creature of the darkness now moving towards the night; the topic to me sounded to gloomy even though it may be one of the most revered and expensive painting in the world sold for more than 100 million dollars. Today I got my chance as I watched the documentary "Exhibition on screen: Munch 150 (2013) and it has inspired me to write my second article for the day. I might write a few today it seems. I have more series lined up.

Life doesn't give any human a straight road to travel. Life expects us to learn some lessons, as Victor Frankl would say in his book "Man's search for meaning"; ask not what you want from life but rather what life is wanting from you at this moment. In learning things in life, all of us humans face sometimes a happy childhood and for many an unfortunate one. We may face hardships, we may face deaths of our loved ones, painful heartbreaks from the ones we thought were the ONE, ideal life crumbled into pieces. Life gives us shit and we carry that shit all our life and in our dark moments we might have think of the temporary feeling of relief felt if we would take our lives away than live at all. I say, I have felt all these moments; so has Edvard Munch as I watched realizing his life and the reasons for his paintings till his adult life being so grim depiction of people including the scream painting.

But Munch was no ordinary individual as are we all humans reading this right now; and his life couldn't and wouldn't end by suicide or through depressing effects on the body; it would rather flourish later. He would recover, rehabilitate and roar back to the world that he is a different creature from the grim depiction of his paintings. He chose to move towards the light after choosing to live in darkness for most part of his 2/3 life. In the last 1/3rd though, he became the epitome of resistance of Norwegian people against Hitler's Nazi occupation of Norway. His last self portrait is still considered the symbol of resilience of the old lonely man and yet upright straight and staring back at the audience in defiance.

What are we to do of this one human life that we get? Let's move towards the light, as have I in writing this article. My journey towards the light from the tragedies of getting born in a world where you have no connection initially is the human journey. Through Voyageride we are trying to address these matters of life and help our friends move towards the light towards immortality as the great master Edvard Munch did.