Artwork
Anxiety
Anxiety is an oil painting by the Post-Impressionist artist Edvard Munch. It dates from 1898 and is held in the collection of the Munch Museum.
About this work
Overview
Created in 1894, "Anxiety" is an oil painting by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. The work presents a small crowd moving toward the viewer beneath a sky rendered in intense reds, oranges, and yellows. It belongs to Munch’s larger series known as the Frieze of Life and is currently displayed in the Munch Museum in Oslo.
Subject & Meaning
The composition centers on a woman with a tense expression, her hat and dark dress contrasting with a similarly somber man in a top hat positioned behind her. Their hurried stride and the unsettling facial cues convey a collective sense of unease, echoing the title’s reference to a pervasive emotional state.
Technique & Style
Munch employs bold, expressive brushwork and a saturated palette to heighten the painting’s emotional charge. The sky’s vivid, blood‑red tones dominate the background, while the figures are rendered in darker hues, creating a stark visual tension that underscores the work’s psychological focus.
History & Provenance
The image draws on motifs first explored in Munch’s 1892 work "Evening on Karl Johan" and the 1893 "The Scream," merging urban crowd scenes with existential dread. In 1896 Munch reproduced the composition as both a lithograph and a woodcut, extending its reach beyond the original canvas.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Edvard Munch ( MUUNK; Norwegian: ; 12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian painter.
