Summer Night (Inger on the Shore) 1889

Edvard Munch created *Summer Night (Inger on the Shore)* using oil paint on canvas. The handling of the material, however, is anything but conventional. Look at the way Munch applied the paint. The texture is quite rough, even raw in places, especially in the foreground. The colors, though muted, have a palpable presence. The canvas is not merely a passive surface, but an active component of the image. It’s as if the painting grew organically, rather than being meticulously constructed. The scene has a strong relationship to landscape painting, a genre that values direct observation. We see the weight and mass of the rocks on the shore, and the rippling effect on the water. But Munch was not simply recording what he saw. He was also exploring the materiality of paint, its capacity to evoke not just visual reality, but also sensation. Through this approach, Munch elevated landscape painting beyond mere representation, imbuing it with personal expression and cultural significance.