Edvard Munch and the Chocolate Factory: the bitter truth behind the Freia frieze
New exhibition in Oslo connects artist’s 1922 public work with the history of cocoa, the labour movement and women’s emancipation At first, to be among
New exhibition in Oslo connects artist’s 1922 public work with the history of cocoa, the labour movement and women’s emancipation At first, to be among Edvard Munch ’s Freia frieze is almost to be swept up by a dance.
Across 12 canvases that are currently on display at Oslo’s Munch museum, fruit pickers’ arms reach with balletic poise, water flows from watering cans in unison, farewells are dramatically bid, and synchronised couples move across a beach arm in arm.
Even Munch’s brushstrokes, dominated by blues and greens, cannot sit still. But as you start to ponder why these scenes – commissioned in 1922 as public art to decorate the walls of the women’s canteen at the factory for renowned Norwegian chocolate company Freia – were created, the urge to move evaporates.
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