Love

September's Munch of the Month takes a look at a different theme in Munch"s paintings.

Love is complex and it includes many feelings: atraction separation, melancholy, and a host of other emotions.  Munch tried to capture the feelings and emotions in the paintings.  A small selection on this theme follows:

2 paintings: Attraction and Comfort

 

2 paintings: Eye in Eye and The Kiss

One reviewer of "Eye and Eye" had this view of the painting:  "I love this painting because it shows so much in such a simple setting. The two figures are drawn to each other, yet they are separated by the trunk of the tree, a symbol of their distance emotionally and physically. He is so attracted to her and holds her in such bright light while he himself is faded by comparison. The lack of mouths by either figure is a perfect example of how they are communicating with neither words or sounds, but only by the expressions and the silence in their eyes. It shows the want of a lover and the reaching to another that we all feel at one point in our lives. The perpetual hope that the other person will reflect our sentiments and return our feelings as strong as we radiate them."

Separation

Melancholy

In the next two paintings (Red and White and The Dance of Life) Munch uses color (primarily red, white, and black) to convey part of the complexity of love.


Red and White
One reviewer of the painting "Red and White" gave this review.
"Purity and Passion entwined
Two sustaining facets of love that are most depicted by artists in Munch's era were passion and purity. Those were the two types of love seen, that of God (purity, Virgin Mary etc.) and passion (of the flesh, of the woman etc.). Munch depicts a woman as love... his love is enveloped with passion (red) and purity (white). Without which, most find themselves helpless in love."

The Dance of Life

A comment from "20th Century Art" included the following to describe the Dance of Life.

"Munch based this painting on mid summer celebrations at Aasgardstrand in his native Norway. The woman in white, who looks like the artist's girlfriend Tulla Larson, symbolizes virginity, the woman in red stands for carnal knowledge and the figure in black, gazing jealously at the dancers, represents old age. The distorted outlines and the symbolic use of color in this work are typical of Munch and are exemplified most famously by his work THE SCREAM." 

CREDITS: "www.edvardmunch.com"

Edvard Munch - The Dance of Life Site
© 2005 Roman Jaster