The Pinacotheque, caddy corner from the Madeline, is exhibiting Edward Munch’s oil paintings and wood gravure prints until July 18th. The exhibition, titled The Anti-Scream, seeks to reveal another face of Norway’s best-known artist beginning and ending with landscapes. Ignore the scent of cat spray as you climb the staircase to meet the body of his work.
He painted alfresco amid the fjords and hills, mirror-like reflections in bodies of water later replaced with violent brushstrokes and buildings like cages when alcohol became his muse. Layer upon layer of each painting was a beginning from which coats were removed attributing a superimposed quality is to his work.
To read more about his lifeMunch was an artist inspired by literature and poetry but drawn to macabre moments of illness and death. The women wear ghoulish expressions, looking out from dark recesses of eyes where circles traced and retraced wear deep into the paper. It wasn’t all nightmarish darkness. She smiles like a cat in Jeune Femme et Boutons. The Fauve colors in squiggles juxtaposed by white space call to mind Matisse.
Allow an hour and a half to view the exhibit. Signage is in French but audio guides may be rented for background. Afterward browse the bookshop for art print postcards and don’t miss the choice selection of French children’s books. Order a coffee and dessert next door at the renown Paris traiteur Fauchon to enjoy a view of the busy square from a pink barstool.
