Prints of Darkness

EDVARD MUNCH: PRINTS

National Gallery of Ireland, Merrion Sq West and Clare St, Dublin Mon-Sat 9.30am-5.30pm (Thurs 9.30am-8.30pm), Sun Noon-5.30pm Sep 19-Dec 6 01-6615133

The Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863-1944) has the unusual distinction of having inspired a crucial prop in a Hollywood chiller franchise: the Scream movies. Munch’s stylised and distorted image of the human face caught in a moment of existential dread provided the template for the masks that hide the killer’s identity.

We know Munch best as a painter, and The Scream as a painting, but he was also a fine printmaker, and his images are amazingly powerful regardless of the medium. So the National Gallery’s exhibition of Munch prints is essential viewing. The 40 or so works , including The Scream, span his career and come from the Munch Museum in Oslo. Along with his print versions of some of his most familiar paintings, the exhibits include portraits of Strindberg and Mallarme, among others.

Can't see that? Catch this

Between Truth and Fiction: The Films of Vivienne Dick Crawford Art Gallery, Emmet Place, Cork Until Nov 7