Figure with Arms in Front of Body 1922 - 1926

Curator: This sketch, titled "Figure with Arms in Front of Body," comes to us from Edvard Munch. Executed sometime between 1922 and 1926 using pen and ink, it really captures… well, what do you make of it? Editor: Vulnerability, instantly. A raw, almost childlike vulnerability in the posture and the searching eyes. It feels like an exposed nerve. Curator: That's interesting. Formally, you see that the figure is almost entirely defined by these frantic, scribbled lines, there is not one continuous bold or consistent outline. This evokes movement and an unsettling fragility to the work. Editor: Yes, it's like the figure is on the verge of dissolving. The hands clasped across the body, it looks as if it is to disappear, either through anxiety, or cold. You feel as though any kind of solid, defined form, just couldn't contain the turmoil he’s expressing. Curator: Munch often used such expressive techniques, didn't he? Think of “The Scream," it expresses turmoil in the visible and non-visible through this visual form. Here the sketch offers a stark contrast with more finished portraits. It exposes a raw creative exploration, perhaps more of the human spirit, or suffering. Editor: Suffering, definitely, seems a strong presence. Yet, there's also a flicker of hope in that direct gaze, wouldn't you say? Even though the lines are agitated, those eyes are meeting you. The mess of the rest of the body holds the soul strongly in this case, maybe as the eyes, soul of windows is said. Curator: That's a poignant reading. Looking at the materiality further though, it being a sketch and nothing more, brings something as you mentioned to mind. The direct engagement, and a private and immediate engagement with internal torment and beauty. Editor: So it's a fleeting glimpse into something both profoundly personal, almost uncomfortable and archetypal, deeply moving? It strikes me that Munch's "Figure with Arms…" remains an enigma, both beautiful and disturbing. Curator: Yes, I agree entirely. Art offers so many interpretations, let’s keep observing and seeing where the work takes us as individuals.