Awakening Men 1916

Edvard Munch made this painting, Awakening Men, at the University of Oslo. It’s pretty big, 455 x 305 cm. Look at how Munch uses color; these aren’t the colors of real life; they're mood colors, and they’re slapped on with visible brushstrokes. You get this feeling that Munch is working quickly, intuitively. It’s like he’s trying to capture a fleeting feeling. I love the texture here, how the paint feels thin in some spots, almost transparent, and thicker in others, where you can really see the brushstrokes. It’s all about the physicality of the medium, you know? There’s one spot, just above the head of the reclining figure, where the paint is particularly thick and swirly, like a little vortex of color. It draws your eye and gives the whole composition a sense of movement, as if the paint itself is awakening. The work is similar to the paintings of his contemporary, Klimt, with a direct approach to colour and application.