The Politics of Munchconference
See program below.
Scholars have throughout the years agreed that Edvard Munch (1863–1944) cannot be characterized as an artist of political engagement. When Munch described his artistic project as one concerned with “living people who breathe, and feel, and suffer and love,” this position stood in opposition not only to the modest genre painting of his time but also to his sources of inspiration: Christian Krohg’s politically engaged naturalism and Hans Jæger’s anarchism. Munch’s works appear apolitical, preoccupied with existential issues, grand emotions and psychological conflicts, and have been predominantly interpreted through a biographical lens. Munch himself never took clear political stances, nor did he ever express allegiance to any political party. Nor do his artworks promote specific political causes. During the Nazi occupation of Norway, he refused to be instrumentalized by both the occupying powers and the resistance. Across his actions, statements and artistic practice, Munch seems not to take political stance.
Munch, however, lived in times of great social and cultural changes. Social unrest, political upheaval, revolutions and wars marked the history of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Within the arts, the avant-garde movements took a clear stance on several of the direst political issues of their times. Over the past thirty years Munch’s art and biography have been the subject of a range of sociohistorical and critical interpretations, including gender studies, feminist readings and ideology critique. Despite this academic attention, there remains a significant gap in our understanding of the political dimensions of Munch’s life, work, reception and legacy.
Amid contemporary political polarization and increasing tensions, it is crucial to broaden our understanding of the political dimensions embedded within shared cultural histories. This involves examining how certain narratives and perspectives have been overlooked or omitted, as well as the aesthetic, material and ideological foundations of the social memories that frame and shape current political imaginaries.
In response to these needs, this conference has invited scholars to challenge the notion of Munch as an apolitical artist and to explore the broader socio-political dimensions of his work and life, both in the past and today. The papers presented will explore a wide range of topics, including class politics, inter-war geopolitics and nationalism, sexual and reproductive rights, anarchism and diplomacy during the Cold War.
The conference is organized by Curator Ana María Bresciani, Senior Curator Dr. Kari J. Brandtzæg, Senior Curator Dr. Lars Toft-Eriksen and Dr. Gustav Jørgen Pedersen on the occasion of the exhibition Edvard Munch and the Chocolate Factory.
Program
Thursday 1 October 2026
Chair: Lars Toft-Eriksen, Senior Curator, MUNCH
08:30 09:00
Registration/coffee
09:00 09:15
Caroline Ugelstad Director of Collections, MUNCH Welcome/opening
09:15 09:55
Ana María Bresciani Arenas Curator, MUNCH Cacao Promises. Edvard Munch and the Freia Frieze
09:55 10:35
Michelle Tisdel Resarcher II, The National Library of Norway Freia – A Little Piece of West-Africa
10:35 10:45
Pause
10:45 11:15
Gerd Woll Senior Curator Emerita, MUNCH Workers as a Theme for Public Decorations
11:15 11:45
Nikita Mathias Senior Concept Developer, MUNCH The Working Class in the Art of Edvard Munch. Politicization or Regeneration?
11:45 12:30
Lunch
12:30 13:00
Allison Moorehead Professor in Art History, Queens University Canada Edvard Munch's Politics of Sex and Reproduction
13:00 13:30
Gustav Jørgen Pedersen N/A Munch and Marx: The Aesthetics and Politics of Metabolism
13:30 13:45
Pause
13:45 14:15
Frode Sandvik Curator, KODE/PhD student, The University of Oslo, Norway Cold War Munch
14:15 14:45
Kristian Handberg Assistant Professor in Art History, Copenhagen University, Denmark Munch Diplomacy. Exhibiting Munch and Nordic Modernism Across the Iron Curtain
14:45 15:00
Pause
15:00 15:30
Maike Teubner Postdoctor, Düsseldorf, Germany An Anarchist Provocation? Edvard Munch and the Politics of Art Criticism
15:30 16:00
Sivert Thue Conservator, MUNCH Edvard Munch’s Connection with “The Black Hand” and a Serbian Nationalist Assassination
16:00
End of day one
Friday 2 October 2026
Chair: Ana María Bresciani Arenas, Curator, MUNCH
09:00 09:30
Coffee
09:30 10:30
Ara Merjian (Keynote) Professor in Italian Studies, New York University, USA Politics and Persecutory Subjectivity: Munch's Marats Reconsidered
10:30 10:45
Pause
10:45 11:15
Patricia Berman Professor in Art History, Wellesley College, USA Munch and the Politics of Italian Art
11:15 11:45
Tobias Kämpf Lecturer in Art History, University of Erlangen, Germany Edvard Munch and Social Reform in the German Empire (1892-1908)
11:45 12:15
Ferdinand Mowinckel Researcher in Art History, European Research Institute, Italy Munch and the United States of Europe
12:15 13:00
Lunch
13:00 13:30
Aurora Wilson Freelance Provenance Research Specialist Edvard Munch as Degenerate: The Politics of Style and the Norwegian Art Market 1937-1945 Onwards
13:30 14:00
Jānis Kalnačs Professor Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Latvia Timelessness in the Time of Nazi Occupation. Edvard Munch in a Young Latvian Artist’s Collection of Essays
14:00 14:15
Pause
14:15 15:15
TBA Round-table discussion: The Politics of Munch, moderated by Lars Toft-Eriksen, Senior Curator, MUNCH
15:15 15:30
Kari Brandtzæg Senior Curator, MUNCH Summary of the conference and concluding reflections
15:30
End of day two
