Worker and Child 1908

Edvard Munch made this painting of a worker and child on canvas, though the date is unknown, but it's full of marks that feel emotionally raw. There's this incredible mauve underpainting, almost like a stain, and then these decisive strokes building the figures on top. Look at the small child: the way the yellow of her hair makes a halo in contrast to the worker's dark mass. There's a push and pull, a tenderness in the gesture, but also something melancholic in the way the figures are set against an atmospheric ground. It reminds me a bit of Paula Modersohn-Becker, who also painted children with such an unsentimental, yet deeply felt gaze. You know, art isn't about answers, but about the questions it dares to ask.