Interior with a Child. Lothar Linde 1902

Edvard Munch made this print, Interior with a Child, using etching, with drypoint and aquatint. The first thing you notice is the directness of the marks. The etched lines are so clear and spare, that they are almost like musical notations. The lines build the image in such a way that the whiteness of the paper becomes just as important as the marks themselves, activating the space. Look at the way the lines on the little girl’s dress almost dance off the page, giving her a sense of lightness. There’s a beautiful sense of ambiguity, a refusal to be pinned down. Munch uses a similar approach to mark-making and figuration in his paintings. Like his contemporary Whistler, you get the sense that he is interested in how little information is required to convey a strong idea. For me, this piece embraces that ambiguity, allowing for multiple interpretations, rather than one fixed meaning.