Reviews on Inside Out Upside Down Gallery Site
Edvard Munch, Pinacoteque, Paris, France
This exhibition is compressed within the limited space of the Pinacoteque. That is not to say that the exhibition does not work in the space. To some extent I had the impression I was walking around in Munch's brain, discovering his motivations and work in a most interesting, if mildly confusing, environment.
The works presented in this exhibition deliver an impression of an artist that was far more conservative and imitative than I had previously understood Munch to be. This is the work of an artist who jumped from one style/ fashion to another until his own personal world dictated his burst of originality. His early work shows a high level of accomplishment even at a young age.
The first painting the viewer is shown as they come to the top of the stair case that leads up to the exhibition, is a landscape in an Impressionist style from the 1880s. The painting is mounted into a false wall, and when you go to the other side of the wall another painting of two women is shown on the reverse of the canvas. This start to the exhibition makes up for the poor spacing of the first small section where new arrivals to the exhibition stop to get their bearings while others try to get the space to look at the first four paintings. It was no help that a tour group of about twelve were trying to fit into this space when I arrived. But after that the exhibition was well spaced.
Munch's work developed in a rather pedestrian way through the 1890s with only one or two works showing an exceptional standard. In particular a wash, red chalk drawing that showed a wonderful control of tone and value is shown in lighting that unfortunately does not do the drawing justice.
One has to watch that one does not walk past the side galleries, they hold a number of gems that would otherwise be missed.
Descending the stairs takes the viewer to a later period running up to the 1930s. Some very pedestrian portrait work and a movie of sorts made in Oslo in 1927 take us to near the end of the exhibition. By this stage you have been up and down stairs a few times, I found it hard to understand what floor I was on, until we went upstairs to get back to the street level.
I found the gallery to be perhaps more interesting than the exhibition and who ever had to design the exhibition deserves full praise for integrating the available space with a well thought out retrospective, chronological exhibition.
On Munch by the end of the exhibition I had resolved that he was a better artist than I had thought him to be, less overwhelmed by the world around him and far more than the Scream or his other well known wood cuts.
author: Neil Miley