The Private Journals of

Edvard Munch: We Are Flames Which Pour Out of the Earth

Edvard Munch

Edited and translated by J. Gill Holland

Foreword by Frank Høifødt

Edvard Munch (1863-1944) is Scandinavia's most famous painter. The Norwegian would probably be best known for his painting The Scream. While this painting is internationally recognized as a symbol for pain, Munch considered himself a writer just as much as a painter. When Munch was a teenager, he began painting. During young adulthood, he studied and worked in Paris and Berlin, where he evolved a highly personal style in paintings and works on paper. Within diaries that he kept for decades, he also experimented with reminiscence, fiction, prose portraits, philosophical speculations, and surrealism. He is known as an artist that captured the various depths of the human condition: both the fantastical and the unbearable. Through the use of his diaries, he’s able to convey these emotions while also offering insight into his personality. These stories have been described as compassionate, romantic, and cerebral.

This English translation of Edvard Munch's private diaries, the most extensive edition to appear in any language, captures the eloquent lyricism of the original Norwegian text. The journal entries in this volume span the period from the 1880s, when Munch was in his twenties, until the 1930s, reflecting the changes in his life and his work. The book is illustrated with fifteen of Munch's drawings, many of them rarely seen before. While these diaries have been excerpted before, no translation has captured the real passion and poetry of Munch's voice. This is a translation that lets Munch speak for himself and evokes the primal passion of his diaries. J. Gill Holland's exceptional work adds a whole new level to our understanding of the artist and the depth of his scream.