Image source: artvee.com
Introduction
Edvard Munch’s Experiment in Colour stands as a radical departure from his more figurative works of the 1890s. Rather than depicting a clearly defined subject, Munch embraces pure painterly expression: swaths of red, teal, purple, and green collide and mingle across a neutral ground. This canvas reads as a laboratory of sensation, inviting viewers to experience color as substance and energy. Less concerned with narrative than with the visceral impact of hue and gesture, Munch explores the emotional resonance of paint itself. In doing so, he anticipates key developments in modern art—Expressionism, Fauvism, and Abstract Art—while remaining rooted in his own lifelong inquiry into the psychology of perception.
Historical Context
By the close of the 19th century, Munch had already shocked audiences with The Scream (1893), The Madonna (c. 1894–95), and a series of prints that laid bare the rawness of desire and anxiety. His work formed part of a broader Symbolist movement, which sought to externalize inner states rather than reproduce external reality. Meanwhile, across Europe, painters like Vincent van Gogh and Paul Gauguin were experimenting with bold, unmodulated color. Munch visited Paris in 1895–96 and absorbed the lessons of the French avant-garde, including Impressionism’s chromatic experimentation and Japanese printmaking’s compositional freedom. Experiment in Colour emerges at this turning point: Munch, freed from figuration, tests the limits of pigment and brushwork, pushing his art toward abstraction without fully abandoning the human presence that had defined his earlier masterpieces.
Subject Matter and Iconography
On the surface, Experiment in Colour offers no clear iconography—no figure, landscape, or anecdote to anchor interpretation. Yet the painting’s gestures suggest fleeting allusions to organic forms: clusters of red marks that evoke scattered blossoms, brushstrokes of teal curving like leaves, and a broad purple mass at the base that hints at root or shadow. These vestigial shapes hover between the recognizable and the abstract, creating a tension between expectation and elision. Rather than signaling a specific narrative, they function as triggers for subjective response. Viewers bring their own associations—memory of petals, the taste of wine, the ache of longing—into dialogue with Munch’s color experiments. In this sense, the work acts as a mirror for emotion rather than a window onto a story.
Composition and Form
Munch arranges his brushstrokes in a loose yet purposeful structure. The canvas is divided neither by horizon nor by strong verticals; instead, clusters of pigment form shifting zones of activity. A sweeping red arc at the top radiates downward, its diagonal axis guiding the eye toward the canvas center. Beneath, teal and green patches hover, creating counterweights to the red above. The purple mass near the lower edge stabilizes the composition, preventing the eye from wandering off the frame. Munch allows the raw linen ground to show through, integrating empty space as a compositional element. The result is a dynamic equilibrium: movement is suggested without actual depiction, and stillness coexists with vigorous gesture.
Color and Light
Color in Experiment in Colour is both material and mood. The red pigments—applied in swift, unblended swathes—seem to pulse, suggesting heat or emotional intensity. Teal and green strokes, lighter and cooler, provide relief while also introducing a sense of organic vitality. Purple, dense and brooding, anchors the lower portion of the canvas, as though gravity has pulled emotion into shadow. Munch does not model form through chiaroscuro; instead, color itself conveys volume and spatial tension. Light arises from the juxtaposition of hues: the warm red appears to advance against the cooler backdrop, while the purple recedes. This optical interplay creates a sense of depth without illusionistic rendering, redefining how paint can evoke atmosphere.
Symbolism and Themes
Although abstract in execution, the painting resonates with themes central to Munch’s oeuvre: the interplay of ecstasy and dread, the bodily roots of emotion, and the porous boundary between inner life and external world. The vivid reds may recall both passionate love and violent blood—a duality that haunted Munch from his early tragedies. The presence of green and teal gestures suggests renewal or natural cycles, hinting at regeneration following crisis. Purple’s somber tone evokes mourning and introspection. Together, these elements form a chromatic allegory: an emotional landscape in which hope and despair, vitality and decay, coexist. Munch transforms raw pigment into a symbolic lexicon, in which each hue carries psychological weight.
Technique and Medium
Munch likely executed Experiment in Colour in oil on canvas, applying paint with brushes of varying sizes and perhaps palette knives. His strokes range from broad, sweeping arcs to small dabs, indicating a willingness to let instinct guide mark-making. The texture of the ground remains visible in many areas, demonstrating that Munch did not seek to obscure the support but to integrate it into the work’s surface life. The uneven edges of strokes and occasional pooling of pigment reinforce the sense of immediacy: the painting feels like a record of a moment’s emotional release. By abandoning refined blending and tight control, Munch harnesses the materiality of oil paint—its viscosity, its capacity to hold the imprint of the artist’s movement—as a conduit for feeling.
Emotional and Psychological Resonance
Viewers encountering Experiment in Colour often describe an initial sensation of exhilaration followed by introspective calm. The bold reds can provoke a quickened heartbeat, while the cooler hues invite contemplation. This interplay mirrors Munch’s intention: to capture not a single mood but the oscillation of affect. The work bypasses narrative cognition and speaks directly to the viewer’s emotional memory. One may sense an echo of Munch’s personal biography—his traumas of illness, loss, and turbulent relationships—but the painting never prescribes a fixed meaning. Instead, it offers a space where individual psyches engage with the raw forces of color and gesture, making each encounter deeply personal.
Experiment in Colour in Munch’s Oeuvre
Within Munch’s body of work, Experiment in Colour marks a pivotal moment of emancipation from the human figure. While earlier pieces like The Scream or The Kiss center on anguished or erotic encounters, here Munch refrains from depicting characters or scenes. This deliberate abstraction foreshadows his later color field–like paintings and links him to future avant-garde movements. At the same time, the emotional urgency remains unmistakably Munchian: color is never decorative but always loaded with psychic charge. Experiment in Colour thus bridges his Symbolist roots and the Expressionist breakthroughs that would follow, demonstrating his role as an influential precursor to Kandinsky, Nolde, and other artists who would explore pure abstraction in the early 20th century.
Reception and Legacy
When first shown, Experiment in Colour puzzled some critics accustomed to Munch’s dramatic narratives. Yet avant-garde circles celebrated it as evidence of painting’s evolving possibilities. Over the decades, scholars have highlighted its importance in charting Munch’s trajectory toward abstraction. The painting appears in key retrospectives tracing the roots of Expressionism, cited for its daring erasure of figuration and its pioneering use of color as autonomous subject. Contemporary artists exploring gesture and pigment often point to Munch’s experimental canvases as vital precedents. In museum displays, Experiment in Colour invites viewers to reconsider Munch not only as a master of mood and symbol but also as a visionary who recognized the expressive force of paint itself.
Conclusion
Edvard Munch’s Experiment in Colour stands as a testament to the artist’s audacity and innovation at the fin de siècle. Through a dynamic interplay of hue, gesture, and surface, Munch transforms canvas into an emotional crucible—one where passion, introspection, and renewal converge. By stripping away narrative and embracing abstraction, he illuminates the raw power of color to convey inner life. Experiment in Colour thus occupies a seminal position in modern art history: a work that both embodies late-19th-century Symbolism and heralds the abstract revolutions of the 20th century. For viewers today, it remains an invitation to engage with color as living presence, to witness painting at its most elemental and affecting.