Editing Edvard Munch (section)

===Berlin===
[[File:Edvard Munch - Evening. Melancholy (1891).jpg|thumb|''[[Melancholy (Munch)|Melancholy]]'', 1891, oil, pencil and crayon on canvas, 73 × 101&nbsp;cm, [[Munch Museum]], Oslo]]
[[File:Edvard Munch im Lindeschen Garten, Lübeck 1902.jpg|thumb|Munch in 1902, in the garden of his patron [[Max Linde]] in [[Lübeck]]; in the background is a cast of [[Auguste Rodin]]'s sculpture ''[[The Age of Bronze]]'']]
By 1892, Munch had formulated his own characteristic, and original, [[synthetist]] style, as seen in ''[[Melancholy (Munch)|Melancholy]]'' (1891), in which color is the symbol-laden element. Considered by the artist and journalist [[Christian Krohg]] as the first [[Symbolism (art)|symbolist]] painting by a Norwegian artist, ''Melancholy'' was exhibited in 1891 at the Autumn Exhibition in Oslo.<ref name="Eggum75">{{harvnb|Eggum|1984|p=75}}</ref> In 1892, [[Adelsteen Normann]], on behalf of the Union of Berlin Artists, invited Munch to exhibit at its November exhibition,<ref name="Pr_135">{{harvnb|Prideaux|2005|pp=135–137}}</ref> the society's first one-man exhibition. However, his paintings evoked bitter controversy (dubbed "The Munch Affair"), and after one week the exhibition closed.<ref name="Pr_135"/> Munch was pleased with the "great commotion", and wrote in a letter: "Never have I had such an amusing time—it's incredible that something as innocent as painting should have created such a stir."<ref>{{harvnb|Eggum|1984|p=91}}</ref>

In Berlin, Munch became involved in an international circle of writers, artists and critics, including the Swedish dramatist and leading intellectual [[August Strindberg]], whom he painted in 1892.{{sfn|Morehead|2019|pp=19–34}} He also met Danish writer and painter [[Holger Drachmann]], whom he painted in 1898. Drachmann was 17 years Munch's senior and a drinking companion at [[Zum schwarzen Ferkel]] (At the Black Piglet) in 1893–94.<ref>{{harvnb|Munch|2005|p=119}}</ref> In 1894 Drachmann wrote of Munch: "He struggles hard. Good luck with your struggles, lonely Norwegian."<ref>{{harvnb|Munch|2005|p=7}}</ref>

During his four years in Berlin, Munch sketched out most of the ideas that would be comprised in his major work, ''The Frieze of Life'', first designed for book illustration but later expressed in paintings.<ref>{{harvnb|Eggum|1984|p=77}}</ref> He sold little, but made some income from charging entrance fees to view his controversial paintings.<ref>{{harvnb|Prideaux|2005|p=153}}</ref> Munch began allowing the appearance of drips in his paintings, as first subtly seen in the painted version of "At the Deathbed" (1895). This effect resulted from the use of highly diluted paint and the deliberate inclusion of drips.<ref>https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327792235_Patterns_in_Munch's_Painting_Technique {{Bare URL inline|date=August 2024}}</ref> Initially, this effect was visible at the edges of his work, but later, the drips became more central, as seen in "By the Deathbed" (1915). The effect of running paint was later adopted by many artists.
[[File:'At the Deathbed' by Edvard Munch, 1895, Bergen Kunstmuseum.JPG|thumb|'At the Deathbed' by Edvard Munch, 1895, Bergen Kunstmuseum]]

His other paintings, including casino scenes, show a simplification of form and detail which marked his early mature style.<ref>{{harvnb|Eggum|1984|p=79}}</ref> Munch also began to favor a shallow pictorial space and a minimal backdrop for his frontal figures. Since poses were chosen to produce the most convincing images of states of mind and psychological conditions, as in ''Ashes'', the figures impart a monumental, static quality. Munch's figures appear to play roles on a theatre stage (''[[Death in the Sick-Room]]''), whose pantomime of fixed postures signify various emotions; since each character embodies a single psychological dimension, as in ''[[The Scream]]'', Munch's men and women began to appear more symbolic than realistic. He wrote, "No longer should interiors be painted, people reading and women knitting: there would be living people, breathing and feeling, suffering and loving."<ref name=Eg_p10>{{harvnb|Eggum|1984|p=10}}</ref>