Experts believe newly discovered artwork is by Edvard Munch

Experts in Norway on Monday said they were convinced that a painting discovered in Germany is a previously unknown work by Norwegian master Edvard Munch.

The painting, being called "The girl and the four male heads," was found in the collection of the Kunsthalle Bremen Museum in Germany and taken to the Munch Museum in Oslo for evaluation. Experts there said it was probably painted by Munch in 1898 or 1899 and differs from his style of the time.

"That is a period of Munch's work that we have little exact knowledge of. There are few pictures from that period," said museum official Gerd Wold.

The painting shows a surrealistic image of a young woman seated on a chair, with the faces of four men, three in front of her and one behind her.

The new painting was found when the Germany gallery removed another known Munch painting from its frame, and found the new painting underneath the work on display. The new painting is currently on display at the Munch Museum in Oslo.

Munch has been in focus after the August 2004 theft of his masterpieces "The Scream" and "Madonna" from the Oslo museum. The paintings are among Munch's best-known works, especially the scream, one of four versions he painted. The paintings are still missing.

The emotionally charged painting style that Munch developed was a major influence in the birth of 20th century expressionist movement. "The Scream" and "Madonna" were part of his "Frieze of Life" series, in which sickness, death, anxiety and love are central themes. Munch died in 1944 at the age of 80.

On the Net: www.munch.museum.no