Summer Night at Aasgaardstrand 1904

Edvard Munch made this painting, Summer Night at Aasgaardstrand, and you can see it today at the Musée d'Orsay. Look at that tree, a big, looming presence constructed through heavy, confident strokes of deep green and black. It’s the kind of mark-making that tells you art isn’t just about what you see, but how you feel, the process of laying down paint becoming a record of an emotional experience. See how the white fence cuts across the composition. It is not a clean, flat surface, but a collection of textured strokes, each dab and smear revealing the physicality of the paint. It's a game of contrasts, a bright, hopeful barrier set against that dark, almost foreboding, tree. The paint isn't trying to hide its origins. Instead, Munch embraces the materiality, letting the strokes and textures contribute to the overall mood. I can’t help but think of Van Gogh, another artist who wasn't afraid to let the paint be paint, whose work is all about feeling. Both artists seem to remind us that art isn't about answers, but about opening up new questions.