Edvard Munch was born on December 12 1863 in Loten Norway. He moved to Christiana (Oslo) and spent most of his childhood there. Both his mother and his oldest sister suffered from tuburculosis and died before he reached the age of fourteen. At eighteen he became more serious about his art and started attending art school. Edvard finally found a release for the pain he felt from his sister's death. In 1886 he painted "The Sick Child". The painting was so emotionally charged that it received a lot of criticism from the press and the public. However some of his artist colleagues began to recognize his talent. The same year another tragedy struck. His father died in November.
Edvard received some scholarships that allowed him to spend the next few years in Paris. Although he would return to Norway during the summer, his style was that of a French Impressionist. In 1892 Munch submitted a series of paintings into a major Berlin art show. His exhibit was titled "The Frieze of Life". This show caused an even larger uproar than his previous work. Some even authorities demanded the show to be shut down. He actually benefited from all of the negative press. He sold next to nothing, but he made a respectable amount from ticket sales. .
His most famous painting of the show was "The Scream". Edvard had so much emotion and pain and suffering in his painting that many people didn't understand it and were actually afraid of it. They didn't know how much sorrow he felt from the loss of his family. Now one of the most widely recognized paintings, it was considered a failure by most critics at the time. A few years later Edvard suffered another tragedy. His brother died.
Later in life Munch suffered a nervous breakdown. He was drinking heavily to cope with all of his losses. After the breakdown he recovered and changed his style. He lost the emotion of his early work and focused more on nature.