Diotima Schuck
4 February 2023
Paris

The Musée d’Orsay’s exhibition on the work of the artist Edvard Munch was a historic event, and the 724,414 visitors it received did not disappoint. Entitled "A poem of life, love and death", it ran from 20 September 2022 to 22 January 2023.

Edvard Munch, a Norwegian painter born in 1863 and who died in 1944, devoted himself to creating art for almost six decades. Known and celebrated for his Scream, the exhibition aimed to show the complexity of the painter’s work, which occupied a pivotal place between the 19th and 20th centuries, through the presentation of some one hundred paintings, drawings, prints and engraved blocks.

Before the pandemic, the Musée d’Orsay had devoted a major exhibition to Picasso which was a real success. The record was broken by Munch, also signifying the strong comeback in cultural institutions by the public, whereas the year 2020 had seen its lowest attendance level, with only 867,274 admissions. In 2022, 3.2m people visited the museum, a result in which “A Poem of Life” definitely played a part.

Orsay Museumexhibition