This is the first book to emphasize the wide spectrum of emotional archetypes through which Munch reveals various existential obsessions such as love, desire, jealousy, angst and death, and states of mind including melancholy, passion and submission.
Each section of the volume is structured around these archetypes, showing the representation of the human figure in various settings: the seaside, the sickroom, the 'green room,' the woods, the night and the artist’s studio. It combines early works with late versions and paintings with graphic works so as to underscore the thematic and existential circularity of Munch’s oeuvre.