A major exhibition featuring Norwegian artist Edvard Munch has opened in Chemnitz, Germany's 2025 European Capital of Culture, showcasing 140 works including approximately 100 pieces by Munch himself. The blockbuster exhibition, titled "Edvard Munch. Angst," brings together the artist's masterful depictions of psychological states that remain strikingly relevant to contemporary society's preoccupations with loneliness and mental health.
The centerpiece of the exhibition is Munch's painting "The Lonely Ones" (Die Einsamen), which has returned to Chemnitz after an absence of nearly 90 years. The 1906 work depicts two figures on a beach - a woman in bright clothing with copper-red hair and a darkly dressed man positioned at a clear distance from each other. Despite appearing to be a couple, the faceless figures show no visible communication, embodying the concept of loneliness within companionship. The painting was originally acquired by Chemnitz's Municipal Art Collection in 1928 but was forced to be sold in 1937 under Nazi pressure as part of the campaign against "degenerate art."
The painting's journey through history reflects the broader persecution of modern art during the Nazi era. After being sold through Nazi art dealer Hildebrand Gurlitt, it disappeared abroad and eventually entered the private collection of American collectors Philip and Lynn Strauss. Since 2023, the work has belonged to Harvard University's Busch-Reisinger Art Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Like most of Munch's iconic works including "The Scream" and "The Kiss," "The Lonely Ones" exists in multiple versions, with variations housed at the Munch Museum in Oslo and the Museum Folkwang in Essen.
Chemnitz's historical connection to Munch deserves recognition as one of the early champions of the Norwegian artist's work in provincial Germany. Alongside Lübeck ophthalmologist Max Linde, who recognized Munch's talent early on, textile entrepreneur Herbert Eugen Esche played a crucial role in bringing Munch to the city. In 1905, Esche invited Munch to his Chemnitz villa, designed by Belgian Art Nouveau artist Henry van de Velde, to paint portraits of his family. Between 1906 and 1929, Chemnitz hosted six major Munch exhibitions, demonstrating the city's commitment to modern art.
This enthusiasm extended to the public sector through Friedrich Schreiber-Weigand, later director of the Municipal Art Collections, who skillfully integrated modern art into the museum canon through strategic acquisitions. Munch revolutionized modern art history by painting inner psychological states more radically than any artist before him, work that coincided with the emergence of Sigmund Freud's psychoanalysis as a new scientific field.
The contemporary relevance of Munch's themes becomes particularly striking when viewed against today's cultural landscape. Loneliness has become a trending topic in media and politics, with governments appointing official loneliness commissioners, while psychological self-diagnosis from "ghosting" to "Asperger's" has become fashionable on social media platforms. In comparison, Munch's artistic approach to these themes appears almost subtle and sophisticated.
The Chemnitz exhibition enhances Munch's works with compelling pieces by contemporary artists including Georg Baselitz and Neo Rauch. Embracing the current era of personal themes, the exhibition includes an interactive component under the motto "Munch. Angst. And what about you?" Visitors can answer questions such as "If you had no fear, what would you absolutely want to do?" by inputting responses into laptops, which then generate AI-created digital artworks projected onto canvases as expressions of their inner selves. The exhibition also offers workshops on "Screaming, but correctly!"
Visitors may choose to participate in these interactive elements or simply appreciate how successfully the Chemnitz curators have translated a modernist classic, traditionally viewed through the lens of "genius and madness," into our current age of self-care culture. The exhibition demonstrates the enduring power of Munch's artistic vision to speak to universal human experiences across different eras.
"Edvard Munch. Angst" runs until November 2, 2025, at the Kunstsammlungen am Theaterplatz in Chemnitz, with an accompanying catalog published by Hirmer priced at 38 euros.
