Madonna by Edvard Munch

       Before discussing Edvard Munch's work Madonna (1894), a brief mention must be given to Sigmund Freud's influence on Europe at the time. While his ideas of psychoanalysis and psychosexual stages have largely been discarded as reliable in the present day, they were still new ideas over a hundred years ago.
       Applied to Edvard Munch's Madonna, Freud's emphasis on the human reproductive system is evident in the work. The woman is laid out in a sexually submissive pose as if she is, in fact, in the middle of intercourse, but this is not evident in the work. Also note what appears to be a red halo around her head. More interesting, however, is the frame that surrounds the image. Images of spermatozoa swim around, and an early-stage fetus sits in the bottom-left corner. Normally, a black-haired woman and a baby together in the same image are represented as the Virgin Mary and the Christ child, but Madonna takes that idea and presents it in a scientific perspective.

Edvard Munch, Madonna, 1894, Oil on canvas.

Madonna and Child (1480s) by Giovanni Bellini for comparison.

       Edvard Munch lost his faith as he grew older, given that his mother and sister (as well as himself) all died of tuberculosis when he was young. Religion aside, the effects of those two deaths on his mental state are reflected frequently in his works; The Sick Girl, The Scream, Vampire, and The Dance of Life all featured themes of morbidity and sorrow.
       Munch's significance in America was that his Madonna was one of the works featured in the Scandinavian section of the Armory Show, an annual exhibition in New York that has featured thousands of works since its beginning. It is still in operation today.



For more on the Armory Show, check out:
http://www.thearmoryshow.com/

To learn more about Sigmund Freud's life and theories, check out:
http://psychology.about.com/od/sigmundfreud/p/sigmund_freud.htm