Much has been written and said about this masterpiece. Critics discuss themes of societal alienation, emotional extremes, such as of loneliness and despair, and so on and so forth — I won’t recapitulate these ideas, but rather will try to examine the painting on a more technical and formal level, in an endeavor to trace [...]
This vision of the sun may seem both very close and remote, aloof yet deeply personal, welcoming and intimidating. One thing is certain: the dominance of the star in this erratic landscape is overwhelming, and it will influence the viewer in one of these ways or another. As was often his custom, the artist created [...]
The author of the monograph I own on Munch, David Loshak, puts a lot of weight into psychoanalytical interpretation of the Norwegian artist’s work. For instance, he suggests that The Sun, as well as the star’s manifestation in “The Dance of Life” function as a phallic image; he interprets the tree and its reflection in the [...]
One of Edvard Munch’s chief strengths as an artist lies in his ability to delineate and convey psychological processes. He may not be an exceptional draftsman or colorist, but he knows how to construct a composition so as to communicate to the viewers on a very basic emotional level. Generally considered a symbolist who prefigured [...]
Madonna (the painting hangs in the Munch Museum, in Oslo, Norway) appears in a state of trance or sleep, with scattered hair and exposed breasts and abdomen. She is enveloped in a swirling background that seems to want to draw her in, or backwards, almost like a Maelstrom (a quintessential north-European term Edward Munch must [...]
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