NOTES
This seemingly straightforward image depicts a woman standing in front of a house and a tree. However, Edvard Munch imbued the picture with psychological meaning. The moonlight bathes the woman’s face in a silvery light, giving it a ghostly appearance, while also casting an ominous black shadow behind her.
Munch helped revive the centuries-old medium of woodcut in the late 1800s. He exploited its expressive potential through roughly cut lines combined with accents of color. However, it was Munch’s innovative printing technique that was most significant: he cut the block into pieces that fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, allowing him to use different colors and inks on each separate piece. He also printed another block with visible woodgrain on top of the image. The texture creates a thin veil, adding to its otherworldly appearance.
