Self-portrait. The night wanderer 1924

Editor: Okay, next up we have Edvard Munch's "Self-portrait. The Night Wanderer," from 1924. It's an oil painting, and it's giving me some serious "existential dread" vibes. What strikes you when you look at this piece? Curator: Dread is definitely in the room, isn't it? For me, it's how the windows loom behind him, these icy blue rectangles. Like portals…but portals to what, eh? It makes me wonder if they're a pathway out or a reflection of something within him. What do you think he’s wandering from? Editor: Hmm, I like that portals idea. Maybe he's wandering from his own inner demons, since it's a self-portrait and all? Curator: Perhaps! The shadows really swallow him, don’t they? It is like he’s consumed by the night. Notice how his face seems almost skull-like? No kind light falls on him; his inner state consumes the physical. Think he saw himself this way or just felt this way on the night he painted it? Editor: Wow, I didn't notice that skull-like quality at first. I guess it adds to that sense of mortality and unease. You know, Munch certainly wasn't afraid to go dark, was he? Curator: Absolutely not! It's almost like he felt compelled to paint his pain and perhaps understood everyone else’s! What a generous, albeit tormented, gift to the world. Editor: This was very insightful! Curator: My pleasure. Art, you see, is but a conversation we keep having, between each other and ourselves.