Edvard Munchs ”kill-and-cure” Treatment – How Does it Affect the Conservation Process

This thesis discusses how the degrading treatment and storage conditions of Edvard Munch’s paintings affect the conservation process. The ”kill-and-cure” treatment is the term used when refering to the storage conditions of Edvard Munch’s paintings during his lifetime. Edvard Munch stored many of his paintings in his outdoor studios or in unsealed storage rooms. The aim for this treatment was partly to achive a matt finish by reducing the glossy effect of oil paint. The ”kill-and-cure” treatment resulted in water stains, bird droppings, seeds and tears in the canvas. The question is whether this dirt should be saved, to what extent it was intentional and to what extent the continuing degradation should be considered part of the intent. The study examines the importance of how dirt affects the paint layer and also how saving or removing it has practical issues in the conservation process. Ethics and methodology provide the conservator with helpful tools when faced with surface cleaning. Conservators at international institutions were contacted. A questionnaire was sent out to get information on how conservators treat paintings by Edvard Munch with the aspects of dirt, ethics and methodology in mind. Of the contacted institutions 27% participated in the survey. The study shows no homogenous interpretation of Munch’s intentions with the ”kill-and-cure” treatment among the conservators participating in the survey or in the litterature. The purpose of this study was to formulate a framework for a continuated discussion. The drafted suggestions that were formed aim to act as a foundation to the descisionmaking in the cleaningprocess.Uppsats för avläggande av filosofie kandidatexamen i Kulturvård, Konservatorprogrammet 15 hp Institutionen för kulturvård Göteborgs universitet 2016:0