Chemistry
The workplace of fire and warmth
Listen to the text:
?Chemistry represents the hidden energies — the workplace of fire and warmth.?– Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch's allegory of the discipline of chemistry fuses laboratory and esoteric science.
A young man and woman are leaning over laboratory beakers with coloured contents. Smoke and flames arise from the flasks and become tiny fetuses: ?a moment pointing towards the future?, in Munch's own words.
Mystery, human nature and the genesis of life are underlying themes.
Details
- Technique and materials: Oil on canvas
- Date: 1914–1916
- Dimensions: 455 x 225 cm
- Woll: 1227
- UiO.K: 01401
Edvard Munch's Aula paintings
The decoration of the University Aula in Oslo was among Edvard Munch's most comprehensive art projects, and a prestigious and controversial assignment in its time.
The 11 pictures are the only expressionist monumental paintings preserved in their original context. The motifs show the university's activities and history, enlightenment and the great, eternal forces of nature and mankind.
The Aula decoration is part of UiO's art collection.