Ghosts; Osvald 1920

Edvard Munch made this lithograph called 'Ghosts; Osvald' with crayon and ink. You can see how he’s scrubbed the surface with layers of black, yellow, and red, capturing a moment of intense emotion. Imagine him, pulling the crayon across the stone, building up this image through trial and error, wiping away, starting again. I think he's trying to depict what haunts us, both literally and figuratively. Look at that yellow head, looming like a specter, casting a pall over everything. The weight of this presence is so intense. You get the sense that this guy is trying to protect himself from it. It reminds me a lot of other artists from the time who were using the same color palette as an emotional response, or maybe even a tool for protest. Artists are constantly in conversation with each other, responding to one another's work across time. This piece for me is evidence of the power of art to capture our deepest, most vulnerable selves.