Exhibition Explores Origins & Meaning Of Edvard Munch's 'Mermaid'

PHILADELPHIA, PENN.

:Edvard Munch's "Mermaid" leads an exhibition of 25 paintings, prints and drawings, with loans from American and Norwegian collections, that will open on September 24 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

The exhibition, which is on view through December 31, focuses on the museum's large, recently acquired painting of 1896, a vital moment during which Munch explored new avenues for his artistic expression.

Norwegian artist Munch (1863-1944) is renowned for his psychologically charged paintings and prints that convey powerful emotions related to sex, anxiety and death through a highly expressive use of color and form. In 2003, the Philadelphia Museum of Art acquired "Mermaid," a large, little-known painting from the artist's most creative period that captures a moment evocative of Norse mythology in which a beguiling beauty, caught between two worlds, emerges from a violet sea under a moonlit sky.

The exhibition, which coincides with the 2005 centennial of Norwegian independence, will be accompanied by a fully illustrated catalog and related events at the museum and elsewhere in Philadelphia.

Munch's provocative representation of the mythical creature, whose powers of seduction are mingled with the natural force of the sea and the moon, shares strong affinities with the artist's other representations of women. It resonates with feelings of de-sire and isolation and contains implications of metamorphosis that also pervade his work.

Munch produced "Mermaid" in Paris during a period of intense activity when he was enjoying the early success of such paintings as "The Scream," 1893 and was be-coming deeply engaged with printmaking, which would become integral to his artistic achievement. Among the five paintings, four drawings and 16 prints assembled for this focused exhibition are such paintings as the haunting "Summer Night: The Voice," 1893 (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), and "Moonlight," 1895 (National Gallery, Oslo), as well as the luminous watercolor "Encounter on the Beach. Mermaid," 1896 (Munch Museum, Oslo), and the hand colored lithograph "Madonna," 1895/1896 (Epstein collection).

The Philadelphia Museum of Art is on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. For information, 215-763-8100 or www.philamuseum.org.