Hest og vogn i gate c. 1920

Edvard Munch made this watercolour painting, “Horse and Carriage in the Street”, and I can imagine him dabbing at the paper with his brush, trying to capture a fleeting impression. There’s this light, airy quality to the painting, mostly blues and browns, like a memory fading at the edges. You can almost feel Munch’s hand moving across the paper, laying down these translucent washes of color. The horse and carriage are there, but they’re also not quite there, as if they’re dissolving into the atmosphere. It reminds me of some of Turner’s late watercolors, where everything seems to be in a state of flux, with the forms dissolving into pure light and color. You know, it’s as if Munch is saying something about the impermanence of things, the way life is always slipping through our fingers. And like all great paintings, it leaves you with more questions than answers.