Vampire (Love and Pain)

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Edvard Much, Vampire (Love and Pain), 19894
Originally titled Love and Pain, Vampire represented a scandalous work by Edvard Munch in 1894. Between 1893-94, Munch painted three versions of Vampire, highlighting different portions in each. Furthermore, during the 1890s, Munch grouped several works under a common theme of love. These paintings include The Voice, Separation, Jealousy, The Kiss, Love and Pain, and Madonna. These works were displayed initially at an exhibition in Berlin. They were part of a larger undertaking by Munch know as,"The Frieze of Life," which explored themes such as love, fear, death, melancholy, and anxiety.

Vampire could portray a couple’s loving embrace or a vampire’s tortured grip. Some interpret “vampire” as a reference to prostitution. Either way, Nazi Germany deemed this piece “morally degenerate.” Nonetheless, a thought provoking work, it is hard to deny to the complex feelings expressed in this painting despite Munch dismissing the picture as "just a woman kissing a man on the neck." For the past 70 years, this controversial work featuring a woman with fiery red hair squeezing and pressing her lips against an unidentifiable man has remained in the hands of a private collector. However, in a 2008 Sotheby's auction in New York, the piece sold for $38,162,500, shattering the previous record of 31 million dollars set for The Scream by Munch.

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