Red Rocks 1915

Edvard Munch painted "Red Rocks" using bold brushstrokes to depict a vivid landscape. The landscape, often a symbol of stability, is rendered with a strange palette. Blue contrasts with the pink and red hues of the rocks, while the sky bears a sickly, yellow sun. These colors create an unsettling feeling, a kind of anxiety. Looking back at the Renaissance, landscapes were often serene, ordered, and imbued with a sense of divine harmony. But here, the discord between the sky and the rocks, between warm and cold tones, disrupts this harmony. Think of Caspar David Friedrich's wanderers atop mountains, contemplating nature's grandeur; Munch offers no such solace. Instead, this landscape is fraught with psychological tension, an emotional space where the external world mirrors inner turmoil. Munch’s landscapes are not just places, but emotional states. The anxiety is a potent force, engaging viewers on a subconscious level, echoing through the ages as we confront our place in the natural world.