Self-Portrait with Cod's Head 1940

Editor: Here we have Edvard Munch’s "Self-Portrait with Cod’s Head," painted in 1940. It's...unsettling. Munch portrays himself alongside what looks like a rather dead-eyed fish. It feels so bleak, even grotesque. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Beyond the immediate shock value, it’s crucial to place this work within its historical and institutional context. 1940—Norway was occupied by Nazi Germany. Munch, already elderly and having faced accusations of "degenerate art" from the regime, creates this piece. Isn't there a certain... defiance in presenting himself this way, alongside an animal head? Editor: Defiance? I hadn't thought of it that way, more like… resignation? A mirror to his own mortality, maybe? Curator: Precisely. The public perception of Munch in the late 30s and early 40s was as a troubled, aging figure, an artist associated with anxiety and mental instability. Think of how institutions, like the very museum housing this piece now, contributed to constructing this narrative. Isn't the cod's head a deliberate parallel to the "degenerate" art that the Nazi regime condemned – art that embraced emotional honesty over idealized representation? Editor: So the shock we feel *now* might be echoing the shockwaves from its historical moment, repackaged for contemporary audiences by how it has been displayed in modern museums? The fish almost becomes a political statement? Curator: Indeed. It disrupts the idealized self-image typically associated with self-portraits, acting as a counter-narrative. Perhaps a commentary on how he saw himself positioned by dominant forces in art and politics. It’s Munch engaging with the "politics of imagery" quite literally, wouldn’t you say? Editor: Wow. I came in thinking 'bleak self-portrait' and now I see it as a real challenge to the art establishment of the time, especially with its museum history today. Curator: Exactly. Considering that historical lens makes all the difference.