Children in the Street 1910 - 1915

Edvard Munch made this painting, Children in the Street, with oil on canvas. Munch is all about raw emotion, and you can see it in the way he attacks the canvas. The colors are bold but somehow feel muted, like memories fading, and the strokes are thick and loaded with feeling. It's not about getting it "right", it's about getting it real. Check out the way he's rendered the figures. They're not really there, are they? They're like ghosts, just shapes and colors suggesting the presence of children. The red slash of the girl's sash is the most vibrant mark in the piece, and it draws your eye right to the center of the scene. The surface has a scrubbed quality, like he may have wiped the paint away and started again, heightening the feeling of the work being unresolved, a question mark. Looking at this piece, I am reminded of the paintings of Bonnard. Both artists seemed to be obsessed with color and light, but Munch brings a very different kind of energy. This is the work of an artist who feels things deeply, and isn't afraid to show it.