About this page
Throughout 2012 I will be carrying out detailed research into the exact characteristics and dimensions of Munch's Ekely house, and the effect living there had on his "late style". A small number of archive photographs of the house exist, and it is referenced in Munch's artworks and writings. This page will document my findings.
Alan O'Cain
EDVARD MUNCH AT EKELY : Chronology 1916-1944
1916
Buys the Ekely estate on the outskirts of Kristiania (Oslo) at the age of 52. Giant murals for Kristiania University are revealed to the public.
1918
Publishes a pamphlet on his early series The Frieze of Life to accompany an exhibition at Blomqvists in Kristiania.
1918-19
Contracts Spanish 'flu and is lucky to survive.
1920-21
Travels to France and Germany. Continues to create paintings based on the house and grounds at Ekely.
1922
Paints murals for the Freia chocolate factory in Kristiania.
1923
Sixtieth birthday. Munch hides from the celebrations in a taxicab.
1925
Kristiania becomes Oslo. Munch continues to create self-portraits of his lonely wanderings around his Ekely home.
1926
Laura, the mentally-ill younger sister whom he has supported financially for many years, dies in an asylum.
1928
Works on large mural designs for Oslo City Hall (that are never realised). Has works exhibited for the first time in London at the Royal Society.
House and studio in Munch's day (digital artwork based on archive photograph) 2011
1929
A specially-built Winter Studio, designed by Henrik Bull, is finally completed at Ekely. Munch creates paintings featuring the construction workers.
1930
A burst blood vessel in his eye hampers his work. Creates photographic self-portraits around Ekely.
1931
Tante Karen, the aunt who has cared for Munch since childhood, dies. Munch watches her funeral from a hiding place.
1933
Receives many seventieth birthday tributes, including from Goebbels in Germany, where Hitler has just come to power.
1937-38
Eighty-two works in German collections, considered degenerate by the Nazis, are sold to foreign dealers and collectors.
1940
Germany occupies Oslo. Munch refuses contact with the Nazis. He writes a will bequeathing Ekely and all his works to the City of Oslo.
1942
Suffers from asthmatic bronchitis.
1943
Receives numerous eightieth birthday tributes.
1944
Dies in his house at Ekely on 23rd January.
1960
Munch's house, having fallen into disrepair during occupation by tenants, is demolished.
1963
A Munch Museum opens in Oslo, showing a changing programme of the many works bequeathed to the city.