Munch's sketchbooks

There are almost 300 sketch- and note-books in the Munch-museum’s collection. These books represent a very complex material. Some of them contain a large number of sketches and drawings – from these we are able to see how the artist developed some of his most famous motifs. In other books we find Munch’s personal notes, his literary-journals and even a stage-play. Some times the sketchbooks served multiple purposes; sketches, addresses and to-do-lists fill the pages next to metaphysical speculations and poems. It seems Munch always carried a sketchbook with him – that way he was able to give his thoughts form – in drawings or in words.