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Edvard Munch’s Toponymic Codes

Patricia G. Berman    Wellesley College, USA    

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abstract

The Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863-1944) created upwards of 1789 paintings of which only 14 are inscribed with toponyms. The extreme rarity of place names in his work invites consideration. In some cases, these place names signify the direct witnessing of a location or a person. More interestingly, the toponyms operate as literary devices that focus attention on the artist’s sickness and health, on physical collapse and rebirth. Interpreting toponyms as forms of ‘time travel’ and ‘space travel’, the article considers Munch’s signatures and toponyms as elements in the formation of his public biography.

Pubblicato
20 Dicembre 2017
Presentato
24 Luglio 2017
Lingua
EN

Keywords: ToponymSanatoriumClinicEdvard MunchSelf-staging

Copyright: © 2017 Patricia G. Berman. This is an open-access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction is permitted, provided that the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. The license allows for commercial use. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.