Variation on ‘Jealousy’ 1925 - 1935

Edvard Munch made this "Variation on Jealousy" with sketchy lines and fleeting color notes, like a thought barely captured. Munch's marks feel like a process, like he’s figuring it out as he goes, changing his mind. The green slashes, like bursts of envy, are daubed onto the canvas, sitting right on top of the grey charcoal under-drawing. Nothing is hidden, everything is visible. You can almost feel the grit of the charcoal, the slickness of the paint. The rawness makes the work so affecting. It's like he's exposing something very private. There’s a kinship here with other modernists like Picasso, who also used raw and exposed marks to convey deep emotion. For Munch, it’s not about the pretty picture, but the struggle, the emotion, the ugly truth of jealousy, laid bare on the canvas.