Ashes - by Edvard Munch

Ashes - 1894
A dark, impenetrable forest forms the backdrop to this cheerless scene. Ashes - their love is burned out, like the tree-trunk in the foreground from which smoke rises along the left edge of the painting. The woman stands on stony ground, holding her head and staring blankly in front of her with a mask-like expression. The unbuttoned petticoat speaks for itself as to what went on in the sombre forest. The woman's long hair streams towards the man, and like tentacles twines about his head and shoulders. He turns away from her and sits crestfallen, hand on head in a gesture of despair or grief. After their intimacy, there is no longer any contact between them. Both are left in a world of loneliness. One of Munch's most pessimistic paintings of the 1890s, this work says a lot about his complicated attitude towards women and towards the relationship between man and woman. Talking about a similar picture, Munch once explained, "Woman there is at one and same time saint - whore - and wretched in her infatuation." A comment typical of its day. In the manner characteristic of Synthetism, the forms in the composition are large areas with fluid outlines, and all details have been pared away. The colours acquire symbolic value, the man's black suit contrasting with the woman's petticoat and the red bodice next to her skin. Form and colour emphasise the symbolic content of the work. This is no realistic depiction of a romantic stroll in the forest. All its elements accentuate the main theme of the picture: the conflict between man and woman.

This is another painting that's too much... Edvard Munch is too much... Here's a glimpse into his anguish-ridden life: Edvard Munch's Biography.

Rami E. Cremesti

December 24, 2000

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