Edvard Munch var oppteken av Vågåkyrkja. I eit notat finn vi:

«Præsten Henning Munch, Præst i Vaage 1600-tallet var rimeligvis af slægten – han dekorerte vakkert Vaage kirke».

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«Henning Munch der i 1600 års tallet dekorerte syndefallet i Våge kirke var vistnok vor familie – Jeg så dekorationen det var intresant holdt i sort og hvid».

Hans Ødegaard, som var kyrkjetenar i Vågåkyrkja i ca 40 år, uttala følgjande i 1945: «For ein 6-8 år sidan reiste Edvard Munch her og da fylgde eg han rundt i kyrkja. Han fortalde meg at han viste om at Henning Munch var sokneprest i Vågå, men han hadde aldri i verda tenkt at det skulle finnast arbeid etter honom og han vart da reint bevega».

Vågåkyrkja var det sentrale kulturhuset i Vågå, og det var naturleg at Edvard Munch besøkte kyrkja på sine turar til Vågå. På den fyrste turen Edvard gjorde til Vågå (1895) kan vi følgje han på vegen frå fjellet ned i bygda (skissebok nr 131), men det er ingen teikningar frå Vågåkyrkja, noko som er litt underleg, sidan kyrkja var så sentral i tekstene hans. Munchmuseet reknar med at fleire av dei små skissebøkene til Munch har vorte borte i løpet av tida.

Det finst ei teikning av den gamle prestebustaden i Ullinsvin, teikna på Maihaugen i 1925. Bygningen stod i Ullinsvin da Edvard besøkte Vågå fyrste gongen, men vart flytta til Maihaugen i 1904. Sidan Edvard hadde ei klar forståing av at dette var huset som forfedrane hans hadde budd i, teikna han det.

Kjelder: emunch.no. wikipedia.no. Årsskrift frå Vågå Historielag, Jutulen, 2021.

Syndefallet,, måleri i Vågåkyrkja.

VÅGÅ CHURCH AND EDVARD MUNCH

Vågå church, as it appears today, was re-erected in 1630. In 1694, pastor Henning Munch (the “artist clergyman”) painted the fall of man and the expulsion from Paradise on one or the walls in the choir.

Edvard Munch was interested in Vågå Church. One of his notes says: “Pastor Henning Munch, pastor in Vaage in the 1600s, was presumably a relative – his decoration of Vaage church is beautiful”. He also writes: “Henning Munch, who in the 1600s decorated Vågå church with the fall of man, was most likely a relative – I saw the decoration which interestingly was made in black and white”.

Hans Ødegaard, who was a verger in Vågå Church for some 40 years, said in 1945: “Edvard Munch visited 6-8 years ago, and I guided him around the church. He told me that he knew that Henning Munch was a pastor in Vågå, but that he had never imagined there to be works of art made by him – and he became quite emotional.”

Vågå church was the cultural hub of the community, and was a natural place for Edvard Munch to visit during his stays. On Edvard’s first trip to Vågå (1895), we can follow him from the mountain and down to the village (sketchbook no. 131), but there are no drawings of Vågå church – which is somewhat strange as it plays a key role in his texts. The Munch Museum believes that several of Munch’s small sketchbooks have been lost over the years.

There is a drawing of the old rectory in Ullinsvin, made at Maihaugen open-air museum in 1925. The building was still in Ullinsvin when Edvard first visited Vågå, but was moved to Maihaugen in 1904. As it was clear in Edvard’s mind that this was the house in which his ancestors had lived, he made a drawing.

Sources: emunch.no. wikipedia.no. Årsskrift frå Vågå Historielag, Jutulen, 2021.