Alpha's Progeny 1908 - 1909

This is Edvard Munch’s 'Alpha's Progeny,' a drawing made with graphite sometime during his career. Munch’s mark-making, the way he gets the graphite onto the paper, feels almost like a stream of consciousness. He’s not precious, more like he's thinking out loud. Look at the seated figure on the left, maybe that’s Alpha. The lines are quick, confident, but then look at his progeny. The marks here are darker, scratchier, more searching. The paper is pale and exposed, letting the graphite breathe. Notice how the lines thicken to describe a shadow or an edge, then fade out, dissolving the form. Munch is often compared to Van Gogh because of their similar intensity, but where Van Gogh piles on the paint, Munch scrapes it back, pares it down to the bone. And both of them, in their own ways, show us that art isn’t about answers, it’s about the questions.