Munch, Meyer and My Family: Personal Recollections

By Dr Barnaby Wright, Deputy Head of The Courtauld Gallery and Daniel Katz Curator of 20th Century Art, The Courtauld
Published 12 August 2022

An interview between alumna Professor Jane Geddes (MA 1974, PhD 1978), relative of Munch collector Rasmus Meyer, and alumnus Dr Barnaby Wright (BA 1999, MA 2000, PhD 2005), curator of The Morgan Stanley Exhibition: Edvard Munch. Masterpieces from Bergen.

The Morgan Stanley Exhibition: Edvard Munch. Masterpieces from Bergen (27 May – 4 September 2022) is The Courtauld’s major summer exhibition. It brings to London the remarkable collection of the artist’s work formed at the beginning of the twentieth century by the Norwegian collector and philanthropist Rasmus Meyer (1858–1916). A native of the city of Bergen, Meyer was an early champion of Munch’s work and acquired some of the artist’s most significant paintings in order to chart his artistic development. These works were a major part of the pioneering collection of Norwegian art that Meyer assembled. He intended for the collection as a whole to eventually form a public museum. After his death, his children turned this into a reality by presenting the collection to the city of Bergen. Today it is housed as part of KODE Art Museum, Bergen, with whom The Courtauld has partnered for this exhibition.

It was a very happy surprise to learn that one of The Courtauld’s distinguished alumni and Emeritus Professor of Art History at the University of Aberdeen, Jane Geddes (MA 1974, PhD 1978) is related to Rasmus Meyer. Professor Geddes was kind enough to conduct an interview with me in which she shares her recollections of her family and of the extraordinary collection that Rasmus Meyer assembled.

It was remarkable to discover that you are related to Rasmus Meyer… could you tell us about your family background and relationship to him?

My mother’s family came from a once-isolated coastal settlement just north of Bergen, where the Meyer dynasty lived perhaps too closely together. My great-grandfather was cousin and neighbour to Rasmus. The two men married two sisters, so my grandmother Lydia and the children of Rasmus, Finn and Gerda, were cousins twice over. Rasmus in a way adopted my grandmother as a young girl, coaching her to become an informed and genteel hostess for the many visitors he invited to see his growing collection. Then after he died in 1916, my grandmother, along with her husband and new-born daughter, were invited to live in his house at Krybbebakken in Bergen while the museum was being built. Her own home was built at the same time as the museum, by the same architect, Ole Landmark. So up to the age of about 5 my mother grew up surrounded by the great paintings and furniture collection; they formed her first memories.

Did recollections of Meyer feature prominently in your family as you were growing up? Did his example play a part in inspiring you to become an art historian?

The story of ‘Uncle Rasmus’ and familiarity with his collection was passed on (intensely) to me and my sister, with frequent visits to the museum. The illustrated catalogue of the collection was our bedtime story book. Every picture had wonderful, often scary, stories attached. Rasmus was taught art history by his father, and I think art was just a very strong part of the family narrative: my sister and numerous cousins have all been drawn professionally into the world of art and architecture.

Did you get a picture of Meyer’s character from your family’s recollections? Can you say what you think drove him as a collector and what were his ambitions for the collection?

We were told about the ancient ‘curse of Meyer’, that the eldest son would die or come to no good. Rasmus’s elder brother, who was supposed to inherit the great flour mill, died leaving Rasmus to change track, study engineering and carry on the business. He suffered massive setbacks with the mill burning down twice, in 1890 and 1899, and was disappointed in his children who showed little interest in either the business or the art. He had a clear vision for the collection. At a time of growing Norwegian nationalism, he wanted to tell the story of Norwegian culture through painting and furniture. Norwegian independence only came in 1905. His choice of paintings reflects his interest in Norwegian history, human experience, and the powerful landscape. That’s why he wanted to make his collection public: to teach the nation about itself.

What did you learn of Meyer’s relationship with Munch and of his passion for the artist’s work? Were there any ongoing family connections with Munch after Meyer’s death?

Rasmus, like Munch, had studied German avant-garde art so he probably had a good understanding of Munch’s ground-breaking ideas. Given that both Munch and Rasmus shot themselves (Munch was only wounded but Rasmus died) I suspect that they both related to the pervading ‘Nordic gloom’ of Munch’s work. But the joy of both the collection and Munch’s work as a whole was that they encompass both darkness and light. I don’t know if there was any further relationship with Munch after Rasmus died. My mother was quite in awe of him: he lived on a big, fenced estate near Oslo, and once she peeked through the fence and saw him thrashing through his woods ‘like a madman’…

To read the full article Munch, Meyer, and My Family: Personal Recollections, please view the latest edition of The Courtauld News, Issue 44