Munch Moments & The Way Home

 

“I was walking along a path with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.” ~ Edvard Munch

I'd be remiss if I didn't spend a little time sharing about the Scandinavian-centric art on board Viking vessels. From the ABBA show in the main theatre, to musicians around the ship featuring Grieg and Sibelius in their repertoire, to the onboard mini-Viking museum and reproduction of the Bayeux tapestry in the stairwells, to Mamsen's yummy waffles and other Norwegian treats, the Venus is a floating celebration of Scandinavian culture and contributions. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Munch Moments each evening when, to delicate piano and sometimes violin accompaniment, some of the most important works of Edvard Munch, Norway's most famous artist, are displayed in giant pixilated form on the big screen in the Living Room. 

The Sick Child

Born in 1863, much of Munch's early life was dominated by the deaths by tuberculosis of his mother and sister Sophie, and his father's heavy-handed belief that God was vengeful and given to fits of divine punishment. As a result, a deep sense of melancholy emanates from his canvases. His work is a departure from Impressionism because he strove to paint his emotions and infused his art with the turmoil he carried within him. The Sick Child is considered a break-through canvas in the new school of art known as Expressionism. 

Love & Pain, sometimes known as The Vampire (though not by Munch himself!)

Perhaps it was inevitable that Munch would rebel against his father's strictures and adopt a bohemian lifestyle which saw sex as a tool that brought liberty from social norms. He never married. 

But the Love & Pain canvas above, as well as the other five that treated the same subject--Munch often produced multiple copies of his work, tinkering with them a bit in each iteration--indicates that he knew that love was interlaced with pain. The male figure seems fraught with anguish and if the kiss on his neck was meant to comfort, it doesn't seem to be working.   

Then there is Munch's most iconic work--The Scream. I found it a disturbing, yet profound insight into the nature of reality. There is a sense that this world, as unnecessarily beautiful as it is, is not quite what it was intended to be. There is death. There is loss. There are the undeniable laws of thermal dynamics that decree decay for all things.  

And Munch is not the only one to notice this undercurrent of despair. The apostle Paul wrote to the Romans: "We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time." Paul heard nature's scream too. And beyond the scream, there is a longing, a straining toward what was lost in Eden, that peace, that innocence, that perfect balance and relationship with ourselves, each other and with God.   

Does everyone sense this tension in the created world? Or is it muted by the flurry of our lives, always distracting ourselves, resisting the urge to really look at the people and things around us? This reminds me of a bit from Thornton Wilder's Our Town. Emily has just relived one of her birthdays and found that no one was really noticing each other, no one was recognizing that they would lose each other someday, everything was going so fast and even the mundane was all so incredibly precious. Overcome with emotion, she declared, "O Life! You're too wonderful for anyone to realize you!"

Then she asked:

  

EMILY: "Does anyone ever realize life while they live it...every, every minute?"

 STAGE MANAGER: "No. Saints and poets maybe...they do some.” 

Saints and poets... I don't fit either category, but I do want to realize life. I want to examine things with an eye to their true substance. I long for wholeness in all the worlds--physical, social and spiritual. I don't want to miss my life because I'm too busy focusing on the urgent instead of the important. 

 

So as we flew homeward, I resolved to spend more time with the people I love. To appreciate the many blessings I've been given. To spend more time in silence and prayer. And to remember that one day Nature's scream will be stilled when God makes all things new.  

Our flight from London to Chicago was smooth and comfortable. Our premium economy seats on Delta on the international flight were like first class domestic seats. It would have been nice to have the lay flat seats in Business, but I couldn't justify the difference in price. Our captain was retiring and we were on his last flight. As we pulled up to the jetway, the ground crew at O'Hare had prepared a water cannon salute for him on both sides of the plane! 

Even though we weren't able to make all our scheduled ports, I highly recommend Viking's Search for the Northern Lights cruise. And as an added bonus, Viking sent us a voucher worth 15% of our fare to use on another Viking voyage! 

Now we're planning our next big adventure. I'll be sharing more about that soon!