The Mystery of Munch

At 7 pm today, Sotheby’s will hold it’s annual Impressionist and Modern Art evening sale. The sale will offer works by renowned artists including Picasso, Monet, Van Gogh, Matisse, Pissarro, and many others, though the one painting headlining the sale is predicted to take in an overwhelming excess of $35 million, in part for it’s fame, and in part for it’s mystery. Evard Munch, most famously known for his work, The Scream, will now be renowned for tonight’s sale of his work Vampire (1984). Vampire is one part of the artist’s Frieze of Life series (The Scream is also part of the series) that explores themes of death, melancholy, love, and life, and was completed just months after The Scream. One aspect of this paintings allure is the mysterious story that accompanies it. The title was originally thought to have been Love and Pain, and the subject two lovers in a painful embrace. History claims that after viewing the composition, Munch’s critic and friend Stanislaw Przybyszewski, thought the female in the painting resembled a vampire, and thus the name and interpretation that we associate the work with today was born. There is also a legend behind the models of this composition, but you’ll have to attend this evening’s sale to learn more about Munch’s mysterious work.