Attraction I Possibly 1896 - 1916

Curator: Edvard Munch’s "Attraction I," currently residing at the Harvard Art Museums, presents us with a rather intense visual field. Editor: My first impression is one of starkness. The figures emerge from the darkness, their gazes locked in what feels like a very charged, almost volatile exchange. Curator: Indeed. Given Munch’s exploration of psychological themes, we might consider this piece within the context of late 19th-century anxieties surrounding relationships and power dynamics between the sexes. The composition itself suggests an imbalance. Editor: The somber landscape looming above, the figures, and the almost skeletal rendering of their faces certainly hints at the symbolic weight of emotional and existential themes within Munch's broader symbolic language. It almost suggests a premonition. Curator: Precisely. Perhaps we can also consider the piece to be indicative of turn of the century social attitudes, as this gaze is embedded in shifting understandings of gender and sexuality. Editor: A powerful piece, stirring complex emotions. Curator: I concur; it leaves one with much to consider about the visual and historical contexts of attraction and repulsion.