Sometimes, in fact, very often, art is not pretty--it is not easy to come to terms with its urgency and call for release. It seethes with emotions that we would rather not face. Although this may sound contradictory, artists such as Van Gogh and Edvard Munch, never set out to paint "beautiful" things--yet their most unbelievably painful, twisted works of art have come to be known as some of the most authentic representations of the human condition.
In the life and paintings of Edvard Munch (famous Norwegian painter and writer) we glimpse at a tortured being--an artist, who expressed an anguish so deep that he was considered psychotic. Today, his painting The Scream, is said to embody the pain of humanity itself, in turmoil, raging against the vicissitudes of modern man.
Munch too became reclusive during his middle years, living in solitude.
Seen below is Vampire and The Scream. Munch maintained a journal where he described his experience about the first painting thus:
"The deep purple darkness settled itself over the earth. I sat under a tree--whose leaves had begun to yellow, to wither. She had sat by my side--she had bowed her head over mine. Her blood-red hair entangled me--it had wrapped itself around me like blood-red snakes--its finest threads had wrapped themselves around my heart. Then she stood up--I don't know why. Slowly she moved towards the sea--further and further away. Then a strange thing happened--I felt there were invisible threads binding us. I felt that invisible strands of her hair were still wrapped around me. Even when she disappeared over the ocean--I still felt the pain where my heart was bleeding, because the threads could not be torn away."
In the life and paintings of Edvard Munch (famous Norwegian painter and writer) we glimpse at a tortured being--an artist, who expressed an anguish so deep that he was considered psychotic. Today, his painting The Scream, is said to embody the pain of humanity itself, in turmoil, raging against the vicissitudes of modern man.
Munch too became reclusive during his middle years, living in solitude.
Seen below is Vampire and The Scream. Munch maintained a journal where he described his experience about the first painting thus:
"The deep purple darkness settled itself over the earth. I sat under a tree--whose leaves had begun to yellow, to wither. She had sat by my side--she had bowed her head over mine. Her blood-red hair entangled me--it had wrapped itself around me like blood-red snakes--its finest threads had wrapped themselves around my heart. Then she stood up--I don't know why. Slowly she moved towards the sea--further and further away. Then a strange thing happened--I felt there were invisible threads binding us. I felt that invisible strands of her hair were still wrapped around me. Even when she disappeared over the ocean--I still felt the pain where my heart was bleeding, because the threads could not be torn away."
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