Badende kvinner, Åsgårdstrand 1935 - 1940

Edvard Munch made this watercolour painting, Badende kvinner, Åsgårdstrand, with an open, exploratory approach. The palette feels very modern, almost Fauvist, with these bright reds, greens and blues. Look at the materiality of the paint here, the way it stains and bleeds into the paper. The paint handling is so fluid and intuitive, allowing us to see his decisions as he’s moving through the piece. See that thick stroke of red in the foreground? It’s like a slash of pure feeling, anchoring the composition. It reminds me of the late watercolours of someone like Philip Guston, who was also obsessed with bathers towards the end of his life, as a subject, or a way of thinking about flesh. This piece feels unfinished, which for me is where its energy comes from, because painting, like life, is an ongoing conversation. What do you think?