You can meet me after dinner.
Consumption is a widespread disease in Kristiania nowadays
especiaIIy amongst the poor
and in crowded areas.
How long are your working hours?
From six to six with an hour's break for Iunch.
- How much do you earn? - Fifteen crowns a week.
BIess us, O Lord,
and these Thy gifts
which of Thy bounty
we are about to receive. Amen.
I work in a factory too. I have to be up before five
to make breakfast for my husband and chiIdren.
- Do the children work? - Yes, they're at the factory too.
EIeven hours a day.
- HeIp yourseIf. - I'm too tired.
Sophie has asked me
to write down my Iast wiII for her.
I've caIIed it My Exhortations.
''My dear chiIdren. I am so afraid that in heaven
''I shaII miss you who are so dear to my heart here on earth.
''But, trusting in the Lord, I shaII beg for your souIs as Iong as
''He grants me Iife.''
Father walked to and fro across the floor.
Then he sat down beside Mother on the sofa.
They whispered to each other and leaned against each other.
Karlemann looked at them
and wondered why tears ran down their cheeks.
''Death and the kingdom of death were cast in the fiery sea.
''This is another death.
Anyone not written in The Book Of Life...''
How Iong have you had it?
Three weeks.
- Is your throat sore? - Yes, a IittIe.
Open wide and I'II have a Iook.
The first symptoms are fatigue and poor appetite,
an evening temperature and a hint of a coId.
When the disease deveIops, one's temperature rises
and the coId grows worse. One begins to sweat at night.
Haemorrhage resuIts in more than 50% of the cases.
What happens to those who beIieve in God
if they give way to masturbation?
The unfortunate wretches go mad.
This appIies to everyone.
We aII have a sexuaI instinct. Everyone masturbates to some degree.
- Women too? - Women too.
What do you do out so Iate every night, Edvard?
You weren't home untiI the smaII hours Iast night.
So you've been spying on me?
I hear when you come home. And notjust that. I know by the smeII.
AII eviI can be traced to Christianity.
Christianity suppresses man's vitaI desires.
What is a ''respectabIe human being''?
One who's not out at night drinking with peopIe Iike that.
Be quiet, so that I may speak with Edvard.
Have you toId your parents that you don't beIieve in God?
I don't want to say I don't.
Why not? Can't you foIIow your own free wiII?
Are you out drinking?
- Drinking? A gIass of beer? - You smeII of spirits, too.
That dreadfuI Jęger you mix with,
he's the Antichrist incarnate.
If there's no eviI outside Christianity-
Of course there's eviI, but it comes from moraI concepts.
Today's society wouId be happier if peopIe were aIIowed
to deveIop their Iusts and desires.
- I understand you. - Do you? You don't seem to.
You never do what I want. You foIIow your own course.
You don't understand me!
Much better than you think.
No, you don't.
We never understand each other in this house.
I'II never be done with you, since you never do what I want.
- I'm tired of this. - Now you be quiet!
The chiIdren were absent from schooI a Iot because of iIIness
and I tried to study a IittIe with them at home.
We can sit by the fire before you go to bed.
My sister Sophie
aIso died from tubercuIosis.
She was 15 years of age.
''And I saw the dead stand before the throne
''and books were opened. The Book Of Life was opened
''and the dead were judged in accordance with their deeds
''and the sea gave up its dead...''
My sister Laura was very taIented.
She Iearned Ianguages and mathematics effortIessIy.
She got honours in Latin.
But she was born with a difficuIt and nervous disposition
so she couId never
make use of her education.
Edvard, I want to taIk with you.
Your aunt said that a pIate was broken.
Was it Peter Andreas?
- No, it was Laura. - No, it was Edvard.
The BibIe says that you're punished. Onan was punished.
It aIso says that man
must repIenish the earth.
One doesn't do that by masturbating!
That was nice and warm, wasn't it?
And now we'II wash your ears.
HaIf of the aduIts in this country are women.
They are aIso citizens but they are pIaced under guardianship
and are tyrannized by men and by society
emotionaIIy, IegaIIy and economicaIIy.
I must make sure that there aren't too many biIIs at once.
In the workpIaces where we're admitted, in industries and schooIs,
we get one-third of the wages men get for the same work.
What sort of work do they do?
They work at putting together matchboxes.
Their fingers are burned by the phosphorus.
How much do they earn?
One crown a day.
How old are the children?
The oIdest is 14. The youngest girI is 12.
The most important thing in art
is its own means, Iike coIour.
It doesn't matter so much what you paint. You can paint horse dung or anything.
- Then you paint for yourseIf? - The coIour must be a joy to see.
PeopIe must undergo an experience Iooking at art.
But which peopIe? The bourgeoisie.
They can afford to buy works of art.
But what about those who queue for food?
There has been a Iot of iIIness and death in our famiIy.
Mamma died of tubercuIosis when she was 30 years oId
and Granny died of the same disease when she was 36.
They waIk down the KarI Johan.
AII the virtuous IittIe misses want to trip aIong there.
His father walked back and forth. He kept his hands clasped.
I consider marriage
to be based on something which is compIeteIy impossibIe for me.
One is obIiged to Iove another human being aII one's Iife.
It seems utterIy absurd. No one can order me to Iove
someone I have grown to hate.
What do you think of the Bohemians' conduct?
One might characterize their conduct as foIIows;
I consider it to be extremeIy unprepossessing
and a distinct danger for certain easiIy infIuenced souIs.
I'm not taIking about prostitutes but human beings who can Iove.
The onIy thing they seem capabIe of is so-caIIed free Iove.
But rabbits are capabIe of that too.
''I Iove you, Iove you. Take me, kiss me, hoId me and then
''embrace me, hug me so that I never breathe again.
''Your kiss is so fiery tonight.
''Fever takes you in command.
''Your tears run sIowIy down and burn into my hand.''
''Do you think that I've tired of you?
''Oh no! SmiIe happiIy as you did before.
''Stay with me tonight. Let my arm curI cIose about your waist.''
How were sexuaI matters
deaIt with in your home?
They weren't deaIt with at aII.
Everything was kept secret around me.
I understood nothing untiI it was too Iate.
In her testament, Mamma asked us to be good
and to Iove Jesus.
Sophie, shaII we sing
a Christmas caroI?
Four of Granny's eight chiIdren died before they were 16.
Tell us about his work.
Edvard Munch is a very taIented young painter.
But he's more interested
in painting Iight and shadow than in sociaI conditions.
Edvard, my brother, aImost died too,
from the same disease.
Lord God, I beg you...
Has all the suffering in your family
affected your faith?
I don't think it's for me to interfere in God's wiII.
He Ioves us and we must be gratefuI.
''Our Father which art in heaven, haIIowed be Thy name.
''Thy kingdom come. Thy wiII be done on earth as it is in heaven.''
Munch's famiIy is puritan.
Everyone who's seen his father knows that.
When he's with us
he has to go home for famiIy evening prayer.
''Lead us not into temptation. But deIiver us from eviI.
''For thine is the kingdom, the power and the gIory
''Forever and ever.
''Amen.''
- Have you met his famiIy? - I've never seen him pray either.
He sits there Iike a monk!
It was distressing for the oIder chiIdren
to see so much iIIness and death.
Are you sick?
''If anyone worships the beast and its image
''and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand
''he aIso shaII drink the wine of God's wrath
''poured unmixed into the cup of his anger
''and he shaII be tormented in the presence of the hoIy angeIs.''
To be free on Sundays, I have to work 1 7 - 18 hours the other days.
It's hard work.
Some of my friends, after working hours,
make so IittIe that they often take to the streets to make money.
Look at prostitution in Kristiania today.
According to Christian moraIs there is no prostitution today
but it's typicaI that the prostitution is checked by the poIice.
But you're for making peopIe Iive on prostitution.
No. In my society there is no room for prostitution.
In this society it's the bourgeoisie who gain from prostitution.
Yet bourgeois moraIs do not aIIow it to exist;
''Thou shaIt not commit aduItery.''
What are your views on marriage?
In my opinion,
marriage is an incaIcuIabIy important and necessary institution,
which undoubtedIy forms the foundation
of our sociaI and cuIturaI structure.
Without marriage, rootIess and chaotic conditions wouId arise,
which in turn, I fear,
might easiIy Iead to anarchy.
In brief, if we want to maintain peace and order,
it is essentiaI for us to support and expand our institutions.
The way society is today, if one marries and has a wife,
she is just as prostituted as ''the girIs from Viken''.
Sit there.
Those who are prostituted are excIuded from society by the same peopIe...
Lean backwards.
...who've pIaced them in that situation.
That's the bourgeoisie's Iove of humanity.
A IittIe wider. Raise your feet higher.
- Name and address. - Line Pedersen.
When I ask for your name, I want your surname first.
Name...
Pedersen.
Once Grandfather came back from a business trip
and he found Granny behind a screen together with
three dead chiIdren.
HeIIo.
You Iive quite cIose to here? Then we're neighbours.
- WiII you visit me one day? - I'd Iike to.
Some Iadies are visiting me today. Perhaps tomorrow?
- Aren't you hungry? - Yes, I am hungry.
BeautifuI Iandscape.
It's so bIue.
All the things he'd wanted to say. He felt awkward and afraid.
They walked on in silence. His cheeks burned.
She spent most of her time in bed, coughing into a handkerchief.
Did blood come this time too?
- I kissed you. Are you angry? - No.
Kissed your neck.
If you're angry, you can beat me.
I'm not angry.
Perhaps you'II Iet me kiss your mouth too?
Stand stiII Iike that. Let me see you.
How picturesque you are in this Iight.
I'm so restIess at night; I can't sIeep.
I have such dreadfuI dreams.
I sIeepwaIk. I have such a Ionging to come to you.
I do so Iike the dark. I can't stand the Iight.
It shouId be Iike tonight. So mysterious.
I couId do the most awfuI things in the dark. Anything.
I don't want to!
What? Don't you want to? Come here!
What? Are you crazy?
Don't be so frightened.
What a wretched idiot you are. A cowardly wretch!
Cowardly!
Why are you so set on becoming a great painter?
You're going to die anyway. Then you'll be gone.
How strange and quiet it is in the forest.
Imagine Iiving here, not aIone but with someone eIse.
It's so mysterious here.
The beautiful pale face with its soft full mouth,
its half-closed eyes and its throat.
He had to own it again,
to look into those eyes, so often hard.
Sophie and Edvard,
I shaII soon be Ieaving you
and I'm so afraid of what wiII happen to our famiIy when I do.
That's why I want
to taIk to you now
and I hope you can promise me
to take care of Laura, Andreas and Inger
so that I can traveI up to heaven with an easy mind.
- WiII you promise me that, Sophie? - Yes, Mamma.
- WiII you promise me that, Edvard? - Yes, Mamma.
I feeI you in here, very strongIy.
- Have you had physicaI reIationships? - Oh, many.
Do you feeI that you've fuIfiIIed yourseIf as a human being?
I try but there are many obstacIes.
- Do you achieve satisfaction? - Now, but not before.
When one is born one knows nothing. One is surrounded
by aduIts one Iooks up to, aduIts fuII of words and prejudices.
ParticuIarIy in my famiIy which is very bourgeois.
I was fiIIed with Iots of admonitions.
You mustn't do this, do that.
Things that I very much wanted to do
were considered wrong by them and then confIicts arose.
I've been thinking of you aII night. I haven't sIept.
A pIate was broken today.
Was it you?
- No, it was Sophie. - Sophie, did you do it?
- Sophie, was it you? - No. Edvard.
''I went down on my knees
''and stretched my hands with my gaze resting on her eyes.
''Her eyes retained their shy expression.
''Then at once they grew Iarge and tender.
''And she drew me up to her,
''put her arms about me and rested her head against my shouIders.
''I Ieaned my head against hers and kissed her bIack hair.''
''She Iay there with her head back and her beautifuI throat exposed.
''I kissed it and wanted to carry her to the bed.
''But the touch of her soft Iimbs
''took aII strength from my arms.''
And that married woman... You shouIdn't show yourseIf with her.
Have you got something eIse besides your work to think of?
I feeI much caImer. I sIeep at night too.
That's fine.
I waited for haIf an hour on the KarI Johan.
And when at Iast she came,
she simpIy waIked past.
She scarceIy Iooked at me.
It's a good thing I don't Iike her any Ionger.
When I try to Iive according to what I think is right for me
and try to find my freedom and Iive according to my ruIes,
the onIy thing the bourgeoisie interest themseIves in
is how many Iove affairs I have.
OnIy my friends Iook at and taIk about what I do,
about my paintings.
She began to talk about how he had not greeted her on the street,
that she was just as good as other ladies.
Look at Mrs. Pettersen who went with the lieutenant to Paris.
lt made him shudder to hear the affection with which she spoke.
Her hand was large and coarse. She placed her cheek against his.
He turned his head away
so that their mouths didn't meet.
She was too repulsive.
I am so gIad you came.
I saw you out waIking with another man yesterday.
- Just a friend. - A friend!
I'd been waiting haIf an hour and you waIked straight past.
I was with Lieutenant Lund.
He's just a friend.
Don't shout.
Everybody can hear.
Damn it, I have hundreds of things to think of! It can't go on Iike this!
Perhaps if I'II teII her that it's aII my fauIt,
perhaps she'II Iike me then...
If I teII her I couId die for her...
This is nothing to Iaugh at!
You shouIdn't take it so much to heart.
There are pIenty of women
with her quaIities.
I find it difficuIt to know what Iife I shouId Iead.
Even if I try to Iive freeIy with men, they haven't changed.
They consider that a woman shouId behave
in such and such a way, which I am incapabIe of doing.
It's Iong past midnight
and you're out every evening.
Aren't you going to answer?
- Don't push me! - Are you drunk?
What do you do when you're out?
He's just a friend.
It can't go on Iike this!
I feeI that if ever I am to find myseIf
I can't adapt myseIf to their standards.
Men I am with, who say that they are free,
have beIiefs too, which I feeI obstruct my freedom.
In fact I don't even know what my freedom is.
I can't take anymore of this. And you know that!
We mustn't speak to each other Iike this. We mustn't.
You are a human being in a society oppressed
by standards and prejudices in every direction.
Painters can't take notice of poIiticaI programs.
You have to paint something as you see it.
You can't sit down and paint... weII... detaiIs.
You can come from a bedroom into the Iiving room in the morning
and you see everything as if in a bIuish Iight,
even the darkest shadows.
That's how you shouId paint it. As you see it.
She let herself be drawn ever closer. Right up against him.
He held her gently about the waist. She reached up towards him.
He felt a warm mouth against his throat, a wet mouth against his
and his mouth slipped in towards hers.
''A feeIing of sweet impotence poured in over my shouIders
''and fIowed down through my Iimbs
''untiI I kneIt, pressed her tight against me
''and kissed her Iush uncovered throat Iike one possessed.''
Something which I do not understand occurs again and again
and that is that a reIationship starts strongIy.
And I know what passion is.
I don't know what Iove is but I know what passion is.
The odd thing
is that a reIationship can begin with the feeIing
that the worId is worthIess
without this one person.
We shouId not have spoken of it.
And graduaIIy, without you noticing what is happening,
this person becomes the one who is hoIding back your Iife.
She looked into my eyes with her fair hair
and her pale, delicate skin.
You're strange.
But you're a fine person.
You're sweet.
What do you think of women
who have extra-marital relationships?
In my opinion a woman is and ought to be a defenceIess
and beautifuI IittIe being, both in body and souI,
who needs the protection
and security of a man.
If you think this is funny, it's...
She smiled with her pale lips and white teeth.
We suit each other, don't we?
You're so strange, Munch.
I received a copy of the book from the poIice in Kristiania
with certain parts underIined.
I teIegraphed at once to ask aII the poIice commissioners
to stop the pubIication of the book.
Does your imprisonment
influence your work?
No, it has no infIuence whatsoever.
The fact that good peopIe, who use Iiterature for diversion,
scream and cross themseIves, means nothing. I knew they wouId.
It provokes the bourgeoisie who Iive their cozy, faIse Iife.
I think it provokes them enormousIy to see free women.
Everything outside the fence they have raised around themseIves
is so terrifying for them
except perhaps in their dreams, when they induIge in fantasies.
But when I Iive openIy and freeIy
I think they become terrified.
The so-caIIed free women that we're aIways hearing about,
they can't reaIIy be quite normaI
but they can become normaI, if they discover their reaI capacity.
HaIf an hour untiI she came
and she mereIy smiIes when she passes by
with another man.
Oh, damn!
Finally l finished, exhausted.
l had brought out a good deal of the first impression,
the trembling mouth,
the transparent shine and the tired eyes
but the colours in the painting were not finished.
lt was pale and grey. The painting was heavy as lead.
The pubIic won't accept that sort of madness.
Every time one passes
this painting peopIe are standing Iaughing at it.
Some peopIe aIways set themseIves up as guardians over others.
In Iiterature they decide what is decent and indecent.
A human Iife is decent but to write
about human sexuaI Iife is indecent.
As Iong as I can write,
I want to combat society and its ruIes
in order to create a society
in which Iiterature is free.
Who has the right to stop anyone writing about his emotionaI Iife?
No one!
l want life, that which is alive.
What the hell do l care whether the chair is properly made?
What l wanted to bring out is what cannot be measured.
The tired movement in the eyes, in the eyelids,
the lips must look as though they whispered something.
It must have been painted by one aImost mentaIIy deranged
who sees haIIucinations as if in a fever.
l lay down on a sofa in the corner. l lay half asleep.
l hated them for looking at me.
It is possibIe that Munch can speak in some way or other...
to those with a sick emotionaI Iife.
But I think it's one of the most dreadfuI things I've seen.
One wouId have expected that a painter who presents his paintings
at a pubIic exhibition wouId respect peopIe's taste
in a totaIIy different way.
Why do you think I shouted so angriIy at you
and said that I couIdn't put up with seeing you anymore?
It was because you Iied!
It's that inaccessibiIity of yours that makes me so angry!
You said that I shouIdn't come so often.
Yes but then I didn't know how much I Iiked you.
You've forgotten me now. You have someone eIse.
I Iove you. If onIy I had known
that you went to somebody eIse to punish me.
It's the uncertainty that makes me so nervous, so furious.
You demand more and more Iove from me.
Don't you understand that I can't give you more than I have to give?
At the very moment you showed your feeIings, it seems as though
you wanted to take something back as if stoIen from you.
Is it for your art you save yourseIf?
You need a woman and yet you don't want one.
I Iike you but we reaIIy can't meet Iike this.
You foIIow me everywhere. You pIague me.
JeaIousy is possessiveness.
YourjeaIousy is driving me to other Iove affairs.
You can't own a woman Iike an object.
It's impossibIe.
You know that I Iike you, but...
... but more as a friend.
Friendship is...
Friendship is so little. Life is short.
This is very serious. We shouId notify them.
I feeI so young.
I try to see Iife optimisticaIIy.
We have different views on Iife.
You seem a IittIe gIoomy.
You seem weak,
a IittIe tired of Iife.
I don't want to kiss you.
They looked at each other without speaking.
At that moment he had a feeling that life's greatest happiness
slipped from his grasp.
There were tears in her eyes.
Have you seen Miss C. since she married?
I expect things are difficuIt for you.
It must feeI strange when you think of her.
Why has Munch's work changed so much since The Sick ChiId?
I can onIy guess but something must have happened to Munch
which made him Iose faith in himseIf and his art,
poor criticism as weII as other factors.
Society accepts the fact that a man has a mistress
but, if a woman has a Iover, it's quite a different matter.
Have you thought about that?
Later perhaps.
Perhaps we can meet then.
Everything couId be different.
We mustn't take it so casuaIIy.
If I marry, I must Iive for my husband.
A woman often marries because she needs to be supported.
She can't earn what she needs to Iive.
What was she thinking of as she sleepwalked along?
A Madonna-like beauty.
That's the way it goes, year after year, a sort of trap.
Having now promised to Iive together in matrimony
and vouchsafed it before God and this congregation, I decIare you...
Was she now also thinking of the pale man behind the column?
...in the name of the Father and the Son and the HoIy Ghost. Amen.
What God has joined together
Iet no man put asunder.
She forced her way between me and my ideaI,
my art!
And yet I couIdn't stop Ioving her.
I couIdn't put up with anymore
of her faIse devotion and Iies.
Her Iove was poisonous!
- She must have feeIings too. - I don't give a damn!
Damn it, I said to her, you're Iying on white sheets.
Your body wiII become deformed by disease and rot.
Perhaps you're going to die, ugIy and stinking!
I'II Iaugh whiIe I drink wine with beautifuI women.
My joy wiII be even greater than the despair she brought.
I shaII Iaugh, Iaugh, Iaugh!
Dr. Munch's death was a hard bIow to the famiIy.
We had just moved to Hauketo
and Dr. Munch Iiked it very much out here.
The Sunday before he became iII
we took a waIk home from the church
and the rest of us couId not keep pace with him.
There is a city in the city, the city of the dead.
There the graves lie side by side.
There you'll find hovels and palaces.
There quiet people live, the dead.
lt is a popular city.
The bones moulder and make way for new.
What if one dies?
''Naught but sorrow and torment, misery and strife.
''There is not much more to be had from Iife.
''You pay a price too high forjoys too brief.
''Our pIeasures are bought by torment and grief.
''If to Iove's pIeasure your body surrenders
''The source of aII pains a new Iife is engendered.''