Rejina Pyo Transforms Edvard Munch’s Angst into Artful Scarves
As The National Portrait Gallery launches its new Edvard Munch Portraits exhibition, Rejina Pyo is debuting her Munch accessories capsule collection. Collaborating with The Munch Museum in Oslo, Pyo has translated paintings into shawls, water colours into jewellery, and prints into bags. For those who want to see themselves refracted in the work, she also produced a one-off steel mirror.
Far from the existential angst of The Scream, Pyo’s capsule indulges in comforting silk fabrics and revitalising reds, blues and yellows. Much of Munch’s work sinks into sombre tones, with paintings like By the Death Bed and The Sick Child meditating on the diseases which tragically killed his family. However, Pyo visited archives at Munch Museet to look beyond Munch’s bleaker legacy. 'It was an extraordinary journey,' she says. 'Immersing myself in pieces that had never been exhibited, I was struck by the vastness and depth of Munch’s work.'
Leaving Paris and Berlin, Munch moved back to his Norway hometown in 1909. From there he began painting with a renewed happiness, producing works depicting his interest in nature. Created the same year he returned, The Sun is a giant mural of symmetrical euphoria. Elements of it can be seen in Pyo’s scarves, which combine Munch's woodwork techniques and post-depression colours in a wearable piece of joy.
The collection retails at £120 to £295, with the steel mirror hoping to sell for £500. Should you want to wear a vibrant Rejina Pyo X Edvard Munch scarf while looking at the agony of The Scream, you can buy the capsule either at the National Portrait Gallery gift shop, Rejina Pyo’s Soho store, or The MUNCH museum from 13 March 2025.
