About Copyright and Usage

If you wish to use any of the Munch Museum’s material in a publication (in either printed or digital form), we advise you to first read this page and then contact us. In general you are free to use material from this website for private, non-commercial purposes. All other use should be agreed upon in writing with the Munch Museum.

If you quote from this website, we require that you state the source. Guidelines for reference and citation practice can be found here.

Copyright to Munch’s Writings and Letters

The copyright to Munch’s writings and letters expired 1 January 2015, 70 years after Munch’s death. Munch’s writings and letters have therefore legally passed into the public domain.

Copyright to Letters Addressed to Munch

In Norway the authors of private letters have copyright to their letters for 70 years. After that, the copyright expires and the letters pass into the public domain. All letters addressed to Munch that are published in the digital archive are either in the public domain or the question of copyright has been agreed upon with the author or the author’s heirs.

In cases where the copyright has not expired, the reproduction of the objects, other than for private, non-commercial use is not permitted without a written agreement with the proprietor of the objects as well as with the proprietor of the copyright to the objects.

The Physical Objects. Proprietorship

Munch’s writings are chiefly owned by the Munch Museum, but also by a number of other institutions and private persons. The letters addressed to Munch that are published in this digital archive all belong to the Munch collection owned by the Munch Museum. Aside from private non-commercial use, none of the archive objects may be reproduced without a written agreement with the proprietor of the objects.

Transcriptions of Munch's Writings and Letters Addressed to Munch

The Munch Museum owns the copyright to the transcriptions of Munch's written texts. Aside from private, non-commercial use no part of the transcriptions may be reproduced without a written agreement with the museum.

Photographs of Munch's Writings and Letters Addressed to Munch

Copyright to the photographs of the written texts belongs to the photographer/proprietor institution (in most cases the proprietor institution has carried out the photography). Aside from private non-commercial use, none of the photographs may be reproduced without a written agreement with the photographer/proprietor institution.

The Munch Museum's photographs are published under the following license condtions:

When nothing else is explicitly stated all photos of Edvard Munch's writings by the Munch Museum are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Translations of Munch’s Writings

Copyright to the translations belongs to the Munch Museum and the translator. Aside from private non-commercial use, no part of the translations may be reproduced without a written agreement with the Munch Museum and the translator.

Regarding translation

The Munch Museum requires that all translations be based on Munch's original Norwegian texts and does not allow translations from translations.

All other Texts

Where nothing else is explicitly stated, all other texts published on this website are produced by or for the Munch Museum. Copyright to these texts is held by the Munch Museum and the authors (or translators). Aside from private non-commercial use no part of the texts may be reproduced without a written agreement with the Munch Museum and the author (or translator).