Untitled 14 

This drawing by Edvard Munch is made with colored wax crayons on paper. This choice of material and process – more like a child’s drawing than a traditional painting – gives the scene a loose, dreamlike quality. The wax resist of the crayons adds a textural richness to the image; the colors feel embedded in the paper. The subject is a coastal scene, perhaps in Norway, with figures engaged in labor alongside a horse. Munch has captured a moment of rural industry, and the scene is imbued with a sense of everyday life and labor through the colored wax. Looking closely, you can see the marks of the artist’s hand, revealing how the directness of drawing can translate into an image of surprising intimacy and rawness. By considering the material and context, we can see how Munch challenges traditional distinctions between fine art and the world around him, grounding his work in the physical realities of labor and landscape.