Does a perfect exhibition exist or has one ever existed? Even though we are used to evaluating exhibition projects that are unbalanced due to digressions, border crossings, lack of documentary material and inadequate setups, there are fortunate cases in which the exhibition becomes an indispensable tool for bringing together numerous works in a single space, offering a specific critical perspective. Moreover, one is particularly fascinated if the exhibition’s protagonist is a master of 20th-century painting, widely historicized: we are referring to the retrospective Munch. Il grido interiore (The Inner Scream), on display until June 2, 2025, at Museo Palazzo Bonaparte in Rome.
“Edvard Munch. Il grido interiore”, Palazzo Bonaparte, Roma, ph. Credit Lucky’s Productions per Arthemisia, courtesy Arthemisia
It is a reconstruction of the artist’s affections, the historical, emotional and social context in which he lived. This was made possible by a highly flexible and adaptable exhibition design, aimed at enhancing each artwork with explanatory texts and a careful critical reading of Munch’s own diary sources. The result is an exciting project – supported by over a hundred loans from the Munch Museum in Oslo – focused on reconstructing the artist’s practice from the late 19th century, particularly referencing the bohemian circle of Kristiania, up to the commission in the 1910s for the murals in the main hall of the Oslo University.
“Edvard Munch. Il grido interiore”, Palazzo Bonaparte, Roma, ph. Credit Lucky’s Productions per Arthemisia, courtesy Arthemisia
Although the time span covered is quite vast, both in terms of period and themes, the exhibition reveals the story of some significant emotional bonds that strongly inspired Munch, such as his relationships with Stanisław Przybyszewski and the model Eva Mudocci, as well as with his beloved Tulla Larsen. What emerges is a painter naturally inclined to intimate and turbulent feelings, revealing a physical relationship with painting, considered as a necessary, instinctive, disordered, anxious practice, capable of being expressed in different techniques such as watercolor, pastel on paper, etching, woodcut and lithography. Thanks to this technical diversity, Munch’s craftsmanship appears even freer, favoring an aesthetic that is restless, changing and constantly evolving. The most interesting parts of the exhibition are not those relating to subjects that have already become ichnographically famous and are still recognizable, such as the Scream, the Vampire, the Madonna, Despair and the Kiss, but rather the way these are treated through the multiplicity of artistic mediums.
“Edvard Munch. Il grido interiore”, Palazzo Bonaparte, Roma, ph. Credit Lucky’s Productions per Arthemisia, courtesy Arthemisia
Moreover, it is important not to underestimate the section dedicated to the theme of the self-portrait, explored by Munch also through photography. This serves as proof that for the artist, the human figure is undoubtedly full of meaning and thus capable of evoking emotion, even using this genre to reflect on the state of his own condition – an obvious opportunity for him to ask clear questions to himself. Therefore, the strength of the exhibition lies in deconstructing the more widely known, popular and iconic image of Munch as a painter of his own and others’ anxieties, to explore an artist who, while deeply and emotionally disturbed, could establish a highly physical relationship with painting. Thus, the creative process does not end with the finished artwork, but continues in the unlimited transcription of further artistic techniques aimed at revealing an extremely suggestive, material and transformative relationship with the subject being depicted.
“Edvard Munch. Il grido interiore”, Palazzo Bonaparte, Roma, ph. Credit Lucky’s Productions per Arthemisia, courtesy Arthemisia
To break the rigidity of an academic practice, Munch reveals himself to be a fluid painter, both through the continuous merging of painting and graphic techniques, and through the autonomy of an exercise that occupies the entire space in both surface and depth, even carelessly and freely marking the edges of his works. In addition, there is the treatment he subjected his paintings to, a practice called ‘horse cure’, which involved leaving his works exposed to the elements, allowing them to bear the marks of atmospheric agents. This choice, which explains the poor state of preservation of the works now housed in the Munch Museum in Oslo, is explored in the exhibition section titled “Self-medication and therapies”. According to Munch, the painting is like a body undergoing a process of acute observation, investigation and measurement of the real data, which likely leads us to ask what sounds and sensations vibrate in the presence of the paintings.
“Edvard Munch. Il grido interiore”, Palazzo Bonaparte, Roma, ph. Credit Lucky’s Productions per Arthemisia, courtesy Arthemisia
Whether screams, silences, murmurs or cries, it is certain that their symbolic richness opens infinite interpretation levels. Furthermore, the attention towards the work, as a physical entity, leads the artist to treat it as a complex, variable organism with its own functions and potential. Even when depicting scenes such as dawns, sunsets, snowy night landscapes and forest views, the natural data is experienced as a physical matter, taking on anthropomorphic aspects. It is precisely here that the harmonious sounds of a fluid painting resonate, alive with the juxtaposition of vivid colors. Therefore, each work, using a musical metaphor, is contrapuntal. In ‘The Frieze of Life’, ‘The Woman (The Sphinx)’, and ‘Red and White’, independent yet eurythmic moments unite within a single painting.
“Edvard Munch. Il grido interiore”, Palazzo Bonaparte, Roma, ph. Credit Lucky’s Productions per Arthemisia, courtesy Arthemisia
Yet Munch’s obsession was with a practice that was alive not only in the contrapuntal narrative links but also in the color combinations, an intense magma arranged in rounded forms. It seems that the artist was aware that the union between form and content aligned in expressiveness, an exploratory tension towards both interiors and open spaces that aimed to describe the state of moods. Where the fluid lines become more exaggerated, the painting comes to life in a yearning for suffering and spasm. At this point, it must be acknowledged that for Munch, what is depicted is treated without any conflict or exaggeration towards the theme, regardless of whether it portrays despair, death, fear, or anxiety; in every form, there is always a clear and sharp simplicity, probably stemming from an awareness of his own psychophysical state. Munch knows he is deeply tormented and is aware of sharing a fate with the souls he portrays – all Nordic, strong, powerful, and differently anguished. This is precisely because, for him, painting is a concrete form of intervention on himself through the various phases of conflict and apotheosis, at times through inevitable falls.
Info:
Munch. Il grido interiore
11/02/2025 – 02/06/2025
Palazzo Bonaparte
Piazza Venezia 5, 00186 Roma
Opening hours: Monday to Thursday 9am-7:30pm | Friday, Saturday, and Sunday 9am-9pm
www.mostrepalazzobonaparte.it
Maria Vittoria Pinotti (1986, San Benedetto del Tronto) is an art historian, author, and independent critic. She currently is the coordinator of Claudio Abate’s photographic archive and Manager at Elena Bellantoni’s Studio. From 2016 to 2023 she was the Gallery Manager in a gallery in the historic center of Rome. She has worked with ministerial offices such as the General Secretariat of the Ministry of Culture and the Central State Archive. Currently, she collaborates with cultural sector magazines, focusing on in-depth thematic studies dedicated to modern and contemporary art.
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