New exhibition in Oslo connects artist\u2019s 1922 public work with the history of cocoa, the labour movement and women\u2019s emancipation<\/p>\n
At first, to be among Edvard Munch<\/a>\u2019s Freia frieze is almost to be swept up by a dance. Across the 12 canvases on display at Oslo\u2019s Munch museum, fruit pickers\u2019 arms reach with balletic poise, water flows from watering cans in unison, farewells are dramatically bid and synchronised couples move across a beach arm in arm. Even Munch\u2019s brushstrokes, dominated by blues and greens, cannot sit still.<\/p>\n But as you start to ponder why these scenes \u2013 commissioned in 1922 as public art to decorate the walls of the women\u2019s canteen at the factory for renowned Norwegian chocolate company Freia \u2013 were created, the urge to move evaporates.<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/4a1e3a8e1ff44648959bebf96898e4eaa8570647\/1109_0_10878_8704\/master\/10878.jpg?width=140&quality=85&auto=format&fit=max&s=a0ae3b0d78b735550cbfb238def32654\" "\\"Edvard")
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"