The domination of woman over man is a theme which recurs with some frequency in Munch's art. In Vampire the man has been subjugated by the woman. His face, with no discernible features, is bowed and in profile, restrained by the strong right angle formed by the woman's arm. Long strands of her hair, like tentacles fall over his head and envelop it. It is the female who takes the active role.

Munch was born in 1863 in Loten about 65 miles northeast of Christiania (present-day Oslo) to which his parents moved the following year. His fomative years were tragically marked by the death of his mother when he was 5 years old and by the death of his 15-year old sister who was a year older than he. Both were victims of tuberculosis and his sister's death in particular had a great impact on him and subsequently on his art. During the 1880's he studied in Oslo and in France, and his 1892 exhibition in Berlin created such a violent furor that it had to be closed after a week. From 1893 until 1908 he worked chiefly in Germany where he was quite successful. In 1908 he suffered a nervous breakdown and although he recovered the following year and continued to work successfully, critics tend to agree that his work lost some if its intensity during the latter half of his life. During the 1903s over eighty of his works were confiscated from German museums by the Nazi government and sold in Norway. Munch died at his studio just outside Oslo in 1944.

Source: Bulletin, March-April, 1983.