Marlene Dumas interprets Edvard Munch in a new exhibition

Marlene Dumas is one of the world’s leading contemporary artists. In a major exhibition at the Munch Museum this autumn, Dumas reveals how she experiences the art of Edvard Munch in relation to her own.

Known for her confrontational and expressive paintings, Marlene Dumas has had solo exhibitions at major museums such as MoMA in New York and Tate Modern in London. Now Dumas is coming to the Munch Museum with the exhibition Moonrise. Marlene Dumas & Edvard Munch, for which she has meticulously selected works by Munch for display in dialogue with her own.

Munch seen through the eyes of Dumas

Dumas’ personal experience of Munch’s work served as a major formative influence on the exhibition. On her first visit to the Munch Museum in 1981, Dumas saw Munch’s Alpha and Omega series of lithographs (1908–09). She says that this encounter opened her eyes to the similarities between Munch and herself:

“I’ve always wanted to paint love stories, and here was Munch doing exactly that, many years before me,” she explains.

Dumas wants the exhibition to show us Munch’s art through her eyes, and to this end she juxtaposes her own works with works by Munch and by her fellow Dutch artist René Daniëls. Dumas explains that Daniëls taught her to see Munch as a modern artist. In the exhibition, she focuses on, among other things,painterly aspects of Munch’s work that may previously have escaped our notice. The three artists share the recognition of the transparent brushstroke, the unpainted canvas and an interest in language.

The magic of the moonlight

The title Moonrise. Marlene Dumas & Edvard Munch is derived from Munch’s lithograph Moonrise, in which his protagonists, Alpha and Omega, gaze out towards the golden column formed by the moon’s reflection in the sea. The story of Alpha and Omega recurs as a thread throughout the exhibition, in the form of themes such as innocence, eroticism, loneliness and death.Dumas wants to challenge the perception of Munch as a purely emotional painter. She sees him as an artist who thoughtfully and sensitively reflects on human conditions.

The exhibition comprises 135 works: 73 by Dumas, 56 by Munch and six paintings by René Daniëls. Three of Dumas’ paintings, Stop in the Name (of Love); Geoffrey and Georgia; and Bathing Girl, have never before been displayed publicly.

Marlene Dumas created the exhibition in collaboration with Munch Museum curator Trine Otte Bak Nielsen. Moonrise. Marlene Dumas & Edvard Munch opens to the public on Saturday 29 September and will run until 13 January 2019. Dumas will be present at the opening of the exhibition.

On 29 September, Marlene Dumas and Trine Otte Bak Nielsen will be in conversation at the Museum. On Sunday 21 October, Dumas will participate in a seminar titled Painting Love Stories. In autumn 2018, Oslo’s Cinemateket, in collaboration with the Munch Museum, will present a series of films selected by Dumas.

The book Omega’s Eyes. Marlene Dumas on Edvard Munch, will be published by the Museum in connection with the exhibition, and will provide unique insight into Dumas’ relationship with Munch’s art. The book will be available in both Norwegian and English.

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For further information please contact:

Liv-Randi R. Holann, communications adviser

E. liv-randi.holann@munchmuseet.no T: +47 92 69 68 25