Melancholy II (Melankoli II) 1898

Edvard Munch made this color woodcut, Melancholy II, using wood, with touches of pen and ink. It is an image loaded with ideas about emotional suffering, something much discussed in the Norway of his time. Looking at the image, the heavy black lines against the muted green and red create a somber mood. This was made in the 1890s, a time when artists were thinking hard about how to represent feelings in new ways, often using stark colors and simplified forms, partly inspired by non-western art. Munch was part of a bohemian circle, a group of artists and intellectuals who questioned conventional social and artistic norms. They felt that the institutions of their time, such as the church and the academy, were out of touch with modern life. What we see in this image is the artist pushing back against those institutions, exploring the darker sides of human experience. To understand Munch better, we can look at his letters and diaries. We can also learn about the social context in which he was working by researching the history of bohemianism and modernism in Norway.