The Kristiania Bohéme, a circle of writers and artists in Kristiania (as Oslo is called at this time) is
an important factor in his artistic development of Edvard Munch.

Its members believe in free love and generally oppose bourgeois narrow-mindedness.

One of the older painters in the circle, Christian Krohg, gives Munch both instruction and encouragement.

Munch, born in 1863 into a middle-class Norwegian family, had shown a flair for drawing at an early age but received little formal training.

Not only did his father and brother die when he was still young, and another sister develop mental illness, but his mother died when he was five, his eldest sister when he was fourteen, both of tuberculosis.

Now twenty-two, Munch captures the last event in The Sick Child. (”Illness, insanity, and death,” as he will later say “were the black angels that kept watch over my cradle and accompanied me all my life.”)

He writes that his painting The Sick Child (1886), based on his sister's death, was his first "soul painting", his first break from Impressionism.

Northeast Europe (1888–1889 CE): National Awakening, Economic Shifts, and Emerging Social Challenges

Between 1888 and 1889 CE, Northeast Europe experienced deepening industrial growth, intensified national awakenings, mounting labor mobilization, and rising pressures from Russian Russification policies. Finland grappled with the social consequences of industrialization alongside an increasingly precarious agricultural sector. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania saw further reinforcement of cultural identities despite Russification, while Sweden continued dealing with emigration and economic challenges. Norway took significant strides toward political liberalization, and Germany's increasing dominance notably shaped regional economic and geopolitical dynamics.

Finland: Industrialization, Rural Challenges, and Labor Mobilization

Finland's robust industrial expansion—particularly within its timber, paper, textile, and metal industries—continued during this era. Alongside this growth emerged a substantial urban working class, whose harsh conditions spurred the formation of trade unions, first legalized in 1883, that drew inspiration from Marxist doctrines prevalent in Germany. These unions laid the foundations for future labor organizations such as the Finnish Trade Union Federation (Suomen Ammattijärjestö—SAJ).

Despite its industrial advances, Finland remained predominantly agrarian. Agricultural modernization, initiated with the introduction of the potato in the eighteenth century and progressively enhanced through scientific farming techniques during the nineteenth century, had significantly improved productivity. Consequently, Finland’s population surged from 865,000 in 1810 to nearly 2,950,000 by 1910.

Yet, limited arable land meant that much of Finland’s surplus rural population—approximately two-thirds—remained relegated to tenant farming or landless agricultural labor. The precarious conditions of this agrarian class, vulnerable to economic uncertainty and indifferent governance by both the Russian authorities and the Finnish Diet (dominated by middle-class interests), intensified societal tensions. From approximately 1870 to 1920, these pressures prompted the emigration of around 380,000 Finns, over ninety percent of whom moved to the United States.

Those remaining in rural Finland initially supported labor movements such as the developing Finnish Social Democratic Party (Suomen Sosialidemokraattinen Puolue—SDP). However, the SDP's increasing Marxist radicalization and advocacy for land nationalization later alienated many rural supporters.

Lithuania: Reinforced Cultural Resilience Amid Russian Pressure

In Lithuania, cultural resilience remained robust despite aggressive Russian Russification. A Lithuanian national awakening led by secular and clerical intellectuals gained momentum, intensifying demands for self-governance. Though the Russian government attempted to suppress Lithuanian-language education and religious institutions, clandestine schooling networks and underground literature flourished, reinforcing Lithuanian identity.

Estonia: Industrial Expansion and Cultural Vitality in Narva

Estonia experienced significant industrial expansion, most notably in Narva, which became the leading industrial center in the region. Initiated by Ludwig Knoop’s Krenholm Manufacturing Company in 1857, Narva’s cotton mills utilized inexpensive hydropower from the powerful Narva waterfalls. By the late nineteenth century, the Krenholm mill employed approximately ten thousand workers, making it one of Europe's largest textile enterprises. Estonia's first industrial strike had occurred at Krenholm in 1872, signaling growing labor unrest.

Narva, part of the Saint Petersburg Governorate under Russian rule, maintained strategic significance until 1863, despite limited military necessity. The establishment of Estonia’s first railway in 1870, connecting Narva to Saint Petersburg and Tallinn, further bolstered its economic prominence.

Despite intense Russification efforts, Estonia’s cultural institutions continued to thrive, preserving Estonian language and national identity through education and cultural production.

Latvia: Continued Cultural Development

Latvia similarly maintained its national cultural awakening, reinforcing Latvian identity through literature, education, and resistance to Russification and Germanization. Urban centers, particularly Riga, fostered strong national sentiments and cultural developments, significantly shaping Latvian national consciousness.

Sweden: Continued Socioeconomic Struggles and Emigration

Sweden faced ongoing socioeconomic challenges, including persistent poverty and limited industrialization compared to Western Europe. Emigration continued at substantial levels, with roughly one percent of Sweden's population leaving annually during this period, predominantly for North America. While relieving some domestic pressures, mass emigration underscored structural weaknesses in Sweden’s economy and prompted discussions of needed reforms.

Norway: Democratic Expansion and Cultural Innovations

In 1889, Norway advanced significantly toward democratic reforms. Universal male suffrage would be granted in 1898, followed by women’s suffrage in 1913. Meanwhile, Norway made notable cultural contributions: painter Edvard Munch began pioneering techniques and themes in his artwork that anticipated the German Expressionist movement, profoundly influencing European art.

Denmark: Stability and Economic Advancement

Denmark continued its steady economic and political development, bolstered by advances in agriculture, dairy exports, and infrastructure improvements, notably railway expansions. The growth of trade unions and urban populations reinforced social cohesion and democratic stability.

Rising Russian Nationalism and Russification Pressures

In the late nineteenth century, the Russian Empire faced significant internal challenges and growing authoritarian nationalism, increasingly targeting non-Russian minorities for cultural assimilation and political control. Policies intensified Russian language use in schools and administration, impacting Poland most severely, but soon extending pressures to other minorities.

By the late 1880s, Russian nationalists increasingly viewed Finland’s autonomy as incompatible with imperial unity. Rising Finnish nationalism, commercial competition beginning in the 1880s, and geopolitical concerns—particularly fears that Germany might leverage its influence over Sweden to use Finland as a staging ground for invasion—further motivated Russian policy shifts toward Finland. Additionally, there emerged calls for Finnish conscription into the Russian army to bolster imperial defense.

These motivations culminated, by 1898–1899, in harsh Russification measures. In October 1898, the appointment of Russian General Nikolai Ivanovich Bobrikov as Governor-General of Finland signaled intensified assimilationist policies. The critical February Manifesto of 1899 explicitly asserted imperial authority to govern Finland without consulting the Finnish Senate or Diet, effectively reducing Finland’s autonomy to that of ordinary Russian provinces. Finnish opposition rapidly mobilized, with the massive Great Address petition gathering over five hundred thousand signatures in protest. However, Tsar Nicholas II ignored this unprecedented outcry, setting the stage for deepening Finnish-Russian tensions.

Germany: Economic Dominance and Regional Influence

Under Kaiser Wilhelm II (r. 1888–1918), Germany continued to assert its regional economic influence, particularly through trade and technological dominance. Germany's expanding economic interactions deeply influenced Northeast European economies, particularly Finland’s growing industrial exports and Denmark’s agricultural markets. Königsberg (Kaliningrad) maintained its prominence as an economic hub, reinforcing Germany’s diplomatic and economic presence throughout the region.

Urbanization and Regional Economic Integration

Major urban centers such as Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Riga, Narva, and Reval (Tallinn) continued rapid expansion, driven by industrialization and infrastructure improvements. Enhanced regional connectivity and commerce bolstered economic stability, supporting cultural vibrancy and solidifying national identities across Northeast Europe.

Cultural and Intellectual Vibrancy

Throughout this era, cultural and intellectual life flourished. Finnish literary and educational initiatives advanced significantly, reinforced by national awakening. Lithuania’s resilient cultural underground preserved national identity amid oppression, and Latvia and Estonia sustained robust cultural developments despite external pressures. Danish and Norwegian intellectual and cultural innovations, notably Edvard Munch’s artistic contributions, significantly enriched European cultural traditions.

Legacy of the Era

The period from 1888 to 1889 CE was marked by substantial sociopolitical transformations. Finland’s intensified industrialization and rural pressures accelerated urban labor mobilization and national tensions. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia’s strengthened national consciousness laid crucial foundations for future autonomy. Sweden’s ongoing emigration revealed deep socioeconomic challenges, while Norway’s democratic advances and cultural contributions anticipated significant political changes. Denmark’s steady economic and political progress contributed regional stability. Russia’s intensified Russification policies, especially against Finland, presaged significant future conflicts. Germany’s regional dominance significantly influenced regional economic and diplomatic dynamics.

Collectively, these developments profoundly shaped Northeast Europe’s trajectory toward the twentieth century, setting the stage for future political transformations, economic realignments, and national aspirations.

The work of Edvard Munch in Norway anticipates German Expressionism.

Edvard Munch soon outgrows the prevailing naturalist aesthetic in Kristiania, partly as a result of his assimilation of French Impressionism after a trip to Paris in 1889 and his contact from about 1890 with the work of Paul Gauguin and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec.

In some of his paintings from this period he adopts the Impressionists' open brushstrokes, but Gauguin's use of the bounding line proves more congenial to him, as is the Synthetist artists' ambition to go beyond the depiction of external nature and give form to an inner vision.

His friend the Danish poet Emanuel Goldstein introduces him to French Decadent Symbolist poetry during this period, which helps him formulate a new philosophy of art, imbued with a pantheistic conception of sexuality.

Edvard Munch's own deeply original style crystallizes in Berlin, where he lives mainly from 1892.

The flowing, tortuous use of line in his new paintings, serves not as decoration but as a vehicle for profound psychological revelation.

In The Kiss by the Window (1892, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo), a man and woman are locked in a tender and passionate embrace, their bodies merging into a single undulating form and their faces melting so completely into each other that neither retains any individual features.

The outraged incomprehension of his work by Norwegian critics is echoed by their counterparts in Berlin when Munch exhibits a large number of his paintings there in 1892 at the invitation of the Union of Berlin Artists.

The violent emotion and unconventional imagery of his paintings, especially their daringly frank representations of sexuality, create a bitter controversy.

Critics are also offended by his innovative technique, which to most appears unfinished.

The scandal, however, helps make his name known throughout Germany, and from there his reputation spreads farther.

Six paintings exhibited by Edvard Munch in 1893 form the nucleus of a series ("The Frieze") on love and death.

His intensely evocative treatment of psychological themes builds upon some of the main tenets of Symbolism.

Love's awakening is shown in Summer Night's Dream (The Voice) (1893; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston), where on a summer night a girl standing among trees seems to be summoned more by an inner voice than by any sounds from a boat on the sea behind her.

In other works forming the series, Munch explores the theme of suffering caused by love, as seen in such titles as Melancholy (c. 1892­93; Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo).

Munch's most famous work, inspired by a hallucinatory experience in which Munch felt and heard a "scream throughout nature," depicts a panic-stricken creature, simultaneously corpselike and reminiscent of a sperm or fetus, whose contours are echoed in the swirling lines of the blood-red sky.

In this painting, entitled The Scream or The Cry (1893, Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo) anxiety is raised to a cosmic level (ultimately related to the ruminations on death and the void of meaning that are to be central to Existentialism).

Munch gives the growing rhythms of Art Nouveau a hysterical expressive force with hardly a vestige of the Impressionist description of nature.

Edvard Munch's massive output of graphic art—consisting of etchings, drypoints, lithographs, and woodcuts—begins in 1894.

The principal attraction to him of printmaking is that it enables him to communicate his message to a much larger number of people, but it also affords him exciting opportunities for experimentation.

His lack of formal training in any graphic medium is no doubt a factor in pushing him toward extremely innovative techniques.

Like many of his contemporaries, he is influenced by the Japanese tradition in his use of the woodcut, but he radically simplifies the process by, for example, printing from a single block of wood sawed into a number of small pieces.

Munch's use of the actual grain of the wood for expressive purposes proves an especially successful experiment (and it will greatly influence later artists.)

He also frequently combines different media or overlays one medium on top of another.

Munch's prints closely resemble his paintings in both style and subject matter.

Continuing his exploration of the theme of suffering caused by love, he completes one of his most pessimistic paintings, Ashes (1894; Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo) another of the works that form the Frieze.

Edvard Munch creates an especially powerful image of the surrender, or transcendence, of individuality in his Madonna (Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo).

In this painting, Munch shows a naked woman with her head thrown back in ecstasy, her eyes closed, and a red halo-like shape above her flowing black hair.

This may be understood as the moment of conception, but there is more than a hint of death in the woman's beautiful face.

In Munch's art, woman is an "other" with whom union is desperately desired, yet feared because it threatens the destruction of the creative ego.

He adds to the Frieze the painting Jealousy (The Munch Museum / The Munch-Ellingsen Group).

If isolation and loneliness, always present in his work, are especially emphasized in these pictures, they are equally apparent in Death in the Sick Room (Nasjonalgalleriet, Oslo), one of his many paintings about death.

Here the focus is not on the dying child, who is not even visible, but on the living, each wrapped in their own experience of grief and unable to communicate or offer each other any consolation.

The claustrophobically enclosed space and the steeply rushing perspective of the floor heighten the picture's power.

Edvard Munch moves from Berlin to Paris.

His art has evident affinities with contemporary poetry and drama, and interesting comparisons can be made with the work of the dramatists Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg, both of whose portraits he paints.

Ernst Ludwig Kirchner is impressed by the graphic art of the German late Gothic artists, especially Dürer, whose influence on Kirchner will be lifelong, but exposure to the Jugendstil movement and the dynamic art of the Norwegian Expressionist painter Edvard Munch had led the eighteen-year-old Kirchner to simplify his forms and brighten his colors in 1898.