A Dutchman and a Norwegian. Two artists who never met, but who created powerful and intense paintings in the same period. And who pushed themselves and their art to the limit. Discover the striking parallels between the work and the lives of Vincent van Gogh and Edvard Munch.

During his short life, Van Gogh did not allow his flame to go out. Fire and embers were his brushes during the few years of his life, whilst he burned out for his art. I had thought and desired, like he, not to allow my flame to become extinguished and with burning brush to paint until the end.

Edvard Munch, 28 October 1933

Becoming artists at the same time

Vincent Van Gogh and Edvard Munch had different backgrounds and skills. In the autumn of 1880, however, they had a common aim: to become artists. Edvard enrolled at the Royal School of Art and Design in Kristiania (now Oslo); Vincent at the Royal Academy for Fine Arts in Antwerp.





After practising for several years, Edvard and Vincent each embarked on an ambitious figural painting in the mid-1880s. Vincent wanted to be an artist of rural life and chose a peasant family eating their meal.

Edvard’s subject was a maid who had just woken up. He hoped to exhibit his canvas and succeeded in doing so.

The Potato Eaters and Morning are milestones in which each of the two artists approached a traditional subject in his own way. Both works were, however, greeted by incomprehension. To pursue their art further, the painters subsequently moved to Paris.





Inspiration in Paris

Paris in the nineteenth century was the world’s leading cultural centre. Artists from many different countries were drawn to the vibrant French capital. Celebrated painters offered lessons in their studios, the annual Salon was packed with the latest art, and ‘alternative’ exhibitions were held in cafés and private galleries. ‘Le Grand Louvre’ was already world famous and was the place Edvard and Vincent most looked forward to seeing. Munch moved to Paris in 1885 and Van Gogh in 1886, although Edvard had already moved on by that time.

Vincent and Edvard lived in the same neighbourhood in Paris (Montmartre) and also moved in the same artistic circles. Although they almost certainly never met, there was a direct link between the two – the Norwegian artist Hans Heyerdahl. Vincent’s brother Theo was Heyerdahl’s dealer, so it is entirely possible that the Norwegian introduced him to the young Edvard. French influences During their respective periods in Paris, Edvard and Vincent each discovered Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, the key movements in modern French art at the time. Both men also explored novelties like photography and Japanese prints, which had a significant influence on their style and choice of subject. It took Vincent a while to start experimenting with impressionist techniques. He had an opportunity to see Claude Monet’s landscapes in Theo’s gallery, where they made a deep impression on him. He applied the same loose touch and light colours in Montmartre: Behind the Moulin de la Galette.

The Pointillist paintings of Georges Seurat and Paul Signac were the very latest thing in 1886. They consisted of dots of pure, contrasting colours placed next to each other.

Rather than dots, Vincent preferred to use short, separate loose brushstrokes, which were more in keeping with his much-admired père Pissarrro.

Edvard’s Spring Day on Karl Johan Street forms a perfect match with the street scenes of the Impressionists. He painted his modern Oslo townscape with small touches of bright colour, just as the Pointillists did.

As for stippling […] I find that a real discovery, but it can already be foreseen that this technique won’t become a universal dogma any more than another.

Vincent to Theo from Arles, c. 26 August 1888

Both Vincent and Edvard viewed Edouard Manet as the most important exponent of the new painting. They especially admired his portraits. Manet’s influence can be detected in Edvard’s portrait of Karl Jensen-Hjell – a true bohemian, whom he painted with broad, loose brushstrokes. The portrait was immediately described as ‘Impressionism taken to the extreme’.





Like Edvard, Vincent focused in Paris on modern portraits. In this example, he painted his girlfriend Agostina Segatori against a flat, yellow plane. The flatness, along with the emphasised outlines, came from Japanese prints. The example shown here is one that Vincent owned himself.





Vincent befriended a number of young artists in Paris, including Paul Gauguin, whose experiments with a new style he admired.

Gauguin simplified his subjects, which he laid down in large expanses of colour, reducing forms to their essence, and giving them strong outlines. His works often have a symbolic or suggestive charge.





Gauguin was very important to both Vincent and Edvard. His robust and symbolic style provided a model that helped them translate their personal experiences into powerful images.

Working in series