Self-Portrait in Moonlight
1904
The countless vertical lines are like cold iron bars.
Moonlight seeping through the narrow gaps illuminates the pale profile of a gaunt man.
There is no landscape here indicating a specific place.
It is a mental interior, floating in the darkness of night.
The person depicted is the painter Edvard Munch himself.
The few years from 1904 to 1906.
These were the most destructive years of his life.
Advancing paranoia.
A terrifying escape from human relationships.
And severe alcoholism.
These were completely dominating him.
He once created beautiful, puzzle-like woodcuts using a fretsaw.
A decorative and artisanal approach.
However, from 1904 onwards, his perception changed dramatically.
He completely abandoned the complex division process.
Instead, he improvised carvings on a single block with a round gouge.
Applying black and blue ink unevenly by hand.
Woodcuts transformed into a means to directly scrawl his inner anxieties onto paper.
The physical violence of carving rough wood.
His 1895 work, Self-Portrait with Skeleton Arm, created in Paris.
A work influenced by portraits of Edgar Allan Poe and Dostoevsky.
The theme of death, which he declared at the time as 'the greatest color is black,' returned after about a decade.
Free membership is required to continue reading
Within you, music and painting draw closer and intertwine more deeply.
We will notify you by email when new articles are published.
If you find an error in this content, please let us know here
A leading Norwegian painter active from the late 19th to the early 20th century.…
Your Note
Write down what this painting made you feel in your art notebook.
Please sign up to write notes.
Sign up for free