Self-Portrait with Striped Pullover 1944

Edvard Munch made this self-portrait with a striped pullover, sometime before he died in 1944, using oil on canvas. Look at how Munch has painted his own face with short, frantic strokes of red and pink. You can almost feel the anxiety and intensity that he was known for. I can only imagine what was going through his head as he painted this; did he see himself as a tragic figure, haunted by his past? What's so striking is the contrast between the wild brushwork of his face and the more controlled strokes of the striped pullover. It's like he's trying to contain his inner turmoil, but it's still bubbling to the surface. There's a dialogue happening here between control and chaos, and it's really captivating. It reminds me a bit of some of Van Gogh's self-portraits, where you can see the artist grappling with their own demons through the act of painting. It makes you think about how artists are constantly in conversation with each other across time, riffing off each other's ideas and pushing the boundaries of what painting can be.