Madonna 1895 - 1902

Editor: Edvard Munch's "Madonna," at the Harvard Art Museums, feels like a haunting echo of familiar imagery. What visual language is Munch employing here? Curator: Indeed. Look at how Munch disrupts the expected visual cues. The halo is a fiery wound, not divine light. The flowing lines suggest both reverence and dissolution. What does the fetus-like figure in the corner evoke for you? Editor: A sense of vulnerability, perhaps? It's unsettling, this mix of the sacred and the visceral. Curator: Exactly! Munch uses the Madonna symbol to explore anxieties around birth, sexuality, and mortality, subverting our cultural memory of maternal serenity. It’s a potent commentary on the human condition. Editor: I never considered the cultural implications of his choices here, but I see it now. Curator: Art reveals to us what we didn't know we knew.