The Oak 1906

Edvard Munch gave us this painting of "The Oak" with oils, and it's like he’s letting us in on a conversation he’s having with the tree. You know, a painterly process where the tree talks back. Look at how he’s wrestled with the paint, thick swipes making up the ground and sky, but then those delicate, almost skeletal branches reaching out, as if the tree is trying to grab hold of something. It’s all about the push and pull of the medium, isn’t it? The texture alone tells a story of struggle and resolution. There’s this dance between the blue, almost stormy, sky and the sun trying to break through, right behind the tree. Munch is having his say but he’s also listening to what the paint wants to do. I think of Van Gogh when I see this, that same kind of raw emotion laid bare, but with a Nordic chill. The art world is so great, it is just artists talking to each other over time.