In the world of art, Edvard Munch was one of the most expressionistic artists civilization has produced particularly in the late 1800’s, and renowned for his painting called The Scream. Munch, who grew up in Norway, was exposed to life’s most traumatic and dramatic experiences such as the loss of his love ones (one after the other) at the very early stage of his life, hence the reason why most of his artworks were deeply rooted in emotional pain and torment, as Dr. Frank Hoifodt, whose thesis was strictly focused on Munch’s life and art, quote “in his art, Munch turned again and again to the memory of illness, death and grief”. Furthermore, to paraphrase, Munch himself once said, “I paint what I saw and what I feel”, this simply suggests that his paintings were reflections of what he had lived through and experienced. His artwork was a form of his own reality and memory. To illustrate and illuminate the strong emotions from Munch’s work, I would like to analyze two of his paintings which I found equally riveting and compelling: Death in the Sickroom, and The Sick Child.
Death in the Sickroom, painted in 1893, both conveys the death of his sister Sophie and the universal suffering we humans all experienced at one point of our lives—the passing of our love ones. The mood of the room is eerie; it is filled and possessed with emotional anguish. Interestingly, we neither see the physical body of the dead person nor an indication of a sick person, therefore, Munch was more concerned with the somber ambiance and deeper thoughts and feelings of the family in the picture. In this psycho-emotional painting, the focal point is the group of the three people in front of the painting. These three were closely drawn together and yet very far from each other. I say far from each other because their bodies are facing different directions as if they are in their own space with nobody beside them, and their minds are consumed with sadness, despair, and pain. In the group, there is a clear disconnection and isolation. Here, Munch was conveying that the disconnection of the three figures in front of the painting was a suggestion of mourning and isolation. Understandably, it is normal to feel the need to be temporarily alone when we are emotionally in pain, because this is human nature. Furthermore, this disconnection or the feel for isolation is seen all over the painting by the positioning of the hands (clasped hands) of the family members. For example, the old man with his hands clasped together that seems to be praying; the woman who is directly looking at us; and lastly, the woman sitting on a chair in the group has her hand clasped together as well. This noticeably clasped hands is a classic example of kinesics or body language that exists in the non-verbal communication that reveals closeness or disinterest. In this case, Munch had championed communicating to us the emotion, as well as the message by a simple body language, proving that each one of these figures is in their own space in separate sphere.
In addition, the color of the painting also plays a huge role in creating this emotionally moving piece. Munch, deliberately used colors that are sad, gloomy, and weak to exemplify the emotion or feeling of weakness from the death of the love one, the burden of heavy pressure because of pain, and the atmosphere of being gloomy because of grief. The pale faces of the people suggest absence of life in both the physical and emotional. The woman in front, for me, is the magnetic force that pulls audience, she has this white face reminiscent of a skull or a dead person that draws attention, and the only one in the painting that is actually interacting with the audience. She is directly facing us as if she is talking to us with her seemingly haunted expression, for us to feel the the sorrow she is holding; this for me is considerably the way for audience to feel the emotion beneath the canvas. More so, the black clothing adds the sense of mourning because we associate black to death. Not to mention the dark, brownish, orange floor, a reminder of the sunset suggesting that there is no stopping or escaping the imminent darkness that is about to engulf Munch’s family.
Moreover, the space was even organized in a way that depicts emptiness. Munch eliminated all unnecessary furniture or things to showcase the feeling of void. Furthermore, the huge space of the floor creates a negative space in the painting along with the huge blank wall at the back that conveys emptiness. Noticeably, the lonely miniscule portrait on the wall appears to be lost in the vast space of the wall; this, for me, echoes the event that is happening in the painting-- sadness and isolation. Also, the room or the space in the painting shows no window or open door, which I believe was Munch’s way of showing that no one can escape death and bereavement. In sum, the purpose of the composition was not to show the “death” of a family member, but instead, to express the drudgery of the ones that are being left behind.
Secondly, The Sick Child, oil on canvas painted in 1896 was another depiction of Munch’s intense feeling of despair, lost, death, illness, and fragility of life mixed into one medium. Here, Munch was again exposing us to the sorrowful journey of his life, bringing us to the time when his sick sister was about to enter the mortality. This painting evokes the powerful emotion because the two figures were drawn so close on the edge of the front of the canvas, as if we are inside the picture experiencing and witnessing the passing of the sick child. In the painting, we are being exposed and presented to the last hours of the dying child, and the agonizing feeling of anticipation being carried by the woman with bent back, and whose head is rested on the bed, suggesting that the burden is so heavy. The painting is primarily focused on the intense emotion that binds the two figures represented by the woman grasping the hand of the sick child with her both hands. Here, we can clearly feel that both figures are struggling to fight the tension of separation.
Arguably, the organic emotion being shown by Munch in this painting is what makes this painting powerful. Ironically, we can easily adapt or relate to it because of the rawness in the emotion, and the clarity of the message, yet it is embellished with dramatic elements such as the brushworks and the use of color contrast. Obviously, Munch was not interested in the accuracy of the human anatomy, unlike the works of Da Vinci. Munch’s deliberately loose brush strokes, the distorted face of the sick child and the empty face of the grieving woman are just perfect for the audience to empathize. More so, in this painting, Munch was not interested in the physical beauty of the body or life, rather he was much concerned in the intensity of human emotion. Even the contrasting colors of dark and light create the mood of solemnity, sacredness of the moment, and the unbearable, scathing human condition.
Furthermore the face of the child was painted in pale, greenish skin tone with sunken eyes to illustrate her dreadful stage next to the woman with bright, healthy skin that is evident on the color of her hand. More so, the half-empty glass on the table suggests the remainder of the sick child’s life; this for me was artfully done to symbolize and convey the essence of water as the source of life. To bring out the sick child as the focal point, Munch masterfully used the headboard of the bed as border to encapsulate the sick child, suggesting that the child is now consumed in a state of perpetual suffering. In addition, the child’s suffering face melting on the pillow having a speck of light emanating from her head shows emotional readiness for her spirit to depart from her earthly body. While the mood of the painting is extremely sorrowful, the sick child seems to be accepting of her fate, and is longing to end the suffering to go to a place where she will be at peace; this for me, is incontestably a very smart and dramatic expression of emotional appeal. Similar to the Death in the Sickroom, the room also has no window or door, which for me is a clear indication of being trapped in the dreadful and drowning state of illness.
To conclude, the outstanding work of Munch is not only shown by how good he can draw or his knowledge of painting, but rather, in the unique way of presenting the style of emotion in his paintings based on his haunting experiences brought upon by the sufferings and lost of his love ones. Because of this, the emotional appeal in his masterpieces such as Death in the Sickroom and The Sick Child among others is vividly effective. These masterpieces are not just pictures of his bitter past, but also a general picture of human emotion consumed by death, illness, and grief. Certainly, the paintings of Munch do not solely rely on its narrative, because they also take us to their entry points, and transport us inside the paintings. This is done through the powerful and dramatic execution of emotional events and subjects in his paintings that are both distinctive and recognizable. To add, the most important part of Munch’s expression of emotion in his painting, is the sense of rawness, the feeling of true organic appeal in depicting human emotion. More so, his deep connection with the suffering and loss had enabled him to paint human condition through the most powerful channel known to man, which is emotion.
