Model by the Wicker Chair 1919 - 1921

Here's Edvard Munch, painting a model by a wicker chair, probably in his studio, with oils, and whatever else was lying around. Look at the colour palette, the strokes, and the shapes, and imagine him at work. He’s building it up, scraping it down, wiping, layering. It's hard to get it right, you know? That stroke there, look—it's like he's searching, trying to capture the weight of that hair, the fall of light on skin. Do you ever get the feeling that what he's searching for isn't just what's in front of him, but some feeling that's inside him? Munch was a master of this, and you see it again and again in his work. He's not just painting a picture, but baring his soul. That smear of red on the lip feels almost painful. These raw brushstrokes and the intensity of feeling make me think of other painters like Paula Modersohn-Becker and even Soutine. Artists are always in dialogue with each other, across time, and Munch is a good example of the power of ambiguity and uncertainty.