Old Man in Warnemunde 1907

Edvard Munch made this painting, *Old Man in Warnemunde*, with oil on canvas; we aren’t sure when, but it feels like a moment caught in time. The paint is applied with such visible, energetic strokes, like he’s wrestling with the scene, trying to pin it down. Look at the way Munch uses color – not to describe, but to evoke. See that figure, almost swallowed by the blues and purples of the foreground? There’s a sense of melancholy, a weightiness, that comes not just from the subject, but from the sheer physicality of the paint. It’s thick in places, almost sculptural, pulling you in and pushing you away at the same time. Then you have the yellows and oranges in the top left which give the impression of light shining through the leaves of a tree. Munch’s work reminds me a little of Van Gogh. Both artists use the intensity of color and the boldness of the brushstroke to convey a sense of inner turmoil. Art doesn’t have to spell everything out. Sometimes, the most powerful statements are the ones left unspoken.