Nude Couple on the Beach 1910 - 1916

Edvard Munch made this painting, Nude Couple on the Beach, with oil paints. It’s full of gestural marks and a cool color palette of blues and fleshy pinks. I can just imagine Munch, standing at the easel, shifting and adding layers as the composition emerges through trial, error, and intuition. I think he was trying to capture a feeling, more than a likeness. It’s like he’s saying, "Here’s what it feels like to be in love, exposed to the elements." The surface is a bit rough, isn’t it? You can see how the paint is applied in short, choppy strokes. Look at the way the line seems to tremble as it defines their bodies. It communicates a kind of vulnerability. Think of other painters who work with themes of love and vulnerability. Maybe Louise Bourgeois? Or Paula Modersohn-Becker? Artists are always in conversation, you know? They inspire one another, reach across time and space with their ideas. And painting, well, painting is a way of making those ideas real, of making feelings visible. It’s never fixed or definitive, always open to interpretation.