Major Works

In 1889, Edvard organizes an exhibition of 110 of his works at a student organization in Christiania and he attends the Art school in Bonnat. His father dies at the same year adding to his despair and already troubled life in art. He returns to Norway in 1890 then rents a studio in Paris in 1891as his health continuously deteriorates due to chronic alcohol abuse. He is invited by the Union of Berlin Artists as an exhibitor in November where his work is subject to bitter controversy which had the whole exhibit closed in only a week from opening. His works are then shown in exhibitions throughout Europe such as Dusseldorf, Copenhagen, Breslau, Dresden and Munich.

He then takes residence in Berlin Germany in 1893, where he meets and paints August Strindberg as he joins an international circle of critics, artists and writers, some of whom where Gunnar Heiberg, Richard Dehmal, Ola Hanson and Holger Drachmann. In 1894 he produces his first lithographs and etchings through which he received commissions for illustrations to the periodical Pan. His work again draws controversy in 1895 where the press urges a boycott on his exhibition in the Blomquist’s Gallery in Norway. His self- portrait with a cigarette was also purchased by the national gallery in Oslo in the same year. As a result of the said criticism, he moves again this time to Paris where a full page reproduction of of his Madonna was printed in the newspaper L’Aube. He prints his first color lithographs and woodcuts in the same year as his mental and physical heath continues to deteriorate.

He purchases a house in Asgardstrand where he spent most of his summer in 1897 till 1906. He then travel again throughout Europe where in 1899 he suffers from influenza, exhaustion and bronchitis leaving him deeper into depression. In 1902 at the Berlin Secession he exhibits the “Frieze of Life” and is injured by a gunshot where he loses two finger joints in his left hand. It is also the year when Gustav Shiefler begins cataloging his graphic works which becomes a record of all his genius. In 1903 he meets Eva Mudocci and English Violinist and sells 800 prints the following year through Schiefler as he drinks ever heavier and heavier.

He tries to get help and cured of his illnesses through various spas in Weimar as he travels again through some areas of Europe. He settles in Berlin in 1907 where he painted in Warnemunde, Rostock, Germany. He exhibits his work in the Bruke in Dresden in 1908 and suffers a complete nervous breakdown halting his work for eight months while under the care of Dr. Jacobson. He continues to exhibit his work all over Europe, until he breaks ties with the Germans in 1940 when Germany invades Norway in the Second World War. He dies quietly shortly after his 80th birthday in Ekely. He leaves his 1,000 paintings, 15,400 prints, 4,500 drawings, 6 sculptures and various numbers of watercolors to the City of Oslo where most stay to this day.