The Joy of Life 1908 - 1915

Edvard Weie made this painting, The Joy of Life, with oil on canvas. Look at how Weie builds up the paint, thick and juicy, to form these figures. You can almost feel the brushstrokes. There’s something incredibly tactile about the way he applies the paint, creating a surface that's almost sculptural. The color palette is restrained, mostly earth tones, but then he throws in these surprising pops of pale pinks and yellows, giving it an otherworldly feel. The painting comes alive through the physicality of the medium and the surface itself seems to vibrate with energy. Notice the thick, swirling strokes of paint in the field, and how they contrast with the smoother, more modeled forms of the figures. Weie, who lived from 1879 to 1943, reminds me a little of Marsden Hartley, another artist who wasn’t afraid to get messy and push the boundaries of representation. Art is like a big, ongoing conversation. It’s not about having all the answers, but about asking the right questions.