Charlotte Gainsbourg meets Edvard Munch

“The choice of colours is incredible because they’re quite ugly. But the whole thing is …”
“It works”, The guide Nikita Mathias responds to French musician and actor Charlotte Gainsbourg as they stand in front of the painting Weeping Nude at the Munch Museum in Oslo. And indeed, it does – Edvard Munch stands out as one of the greatest artists of all time.

The film Between the clock and the bed explores parallels between current musicians and the life and work of the Norwegian painter and printmaker Edvard Munch. In collaboration with ten artists who have all performed at the Øya music festival in Oslo, the film examines the universal ideas and themes in Munch’s art and how they manifest in the minds of the musicians of today.

From an early age, Munch uncompromisingly dedicated his life to making art, and art became the way for him to process his many hardships: The death of his mother and sister, paternal issues, poverty, illness, mental instability and depression, failed love, and loneliness. “I do not believe in art which is not the compulsive result of Man’s urge to open his heart”, he once said.

Loneliness, love, sexuality, grief, and death are thus central topics in Munch’s art. Timeless subjects as relevant today as when Munch died nearly 75 years ago, as we can see when the musicians Patti Smith and Charlotte Gainsbourg talk about Munch in connection with their own lives and work. “Do you have a relation to Munch”, the guide Mathias asks Patti Smith at one point. “Yes, of course”, she answers.

Co-starring alongside Smith and Gainsbourg is a selection of musicians ranging from Atlanta hip-hopper 6LACK to the Norwegian artists Myra, Emir, Bendik Giske, Cezinando, Gundelach, Carmen Villain, and Lars Vaular.