Painting Description

Edvard Munch

Norwegian, 1863-1944

The Strom 1893 36 1/8 x51 ½” (91.8x 130.8 cm)

The setting in the painting says a stormy evening. You can see the objects in the painting, but not clearly. The community looks gated because you only see two homes rather than an entire community. This painting looks like a painting whereas other paintings portray itself as a photograph. All the figures in the painting seem to be women. In the background of the women there are homes. All the lights in the homes are turned on and have bright yellow lights. The rain is powerful because the tree is tilted to the left, emphasizing the strong wind. These women look fairly wealthy. The women look as if they all live together. The environment looks clean and sort of proper because of the brick walkway and beautiful homes. A woman in a white dress is standing out in the painting because the entire painting has dull colors like dark green, blue and brown. Then you have a woman in a shiny white dress standing alone. The other women hands are raised to the sky as if they are praying. The painting is clearly enough to see the figures, but you can tell the artists created this blurry painting for a reason. In the painting, you can see the strokes of the brush and that it is oil on canvas.

I chose this painting because it seemed unusual and stood out. The woman in the white dress caught my attention because it makes me wonder why she’s standing there alone. Although, the artist did not paint a clear picture I can still see the images and can paint a clear picture in my head because he gave it a title. The title helps because if you just look at the picture you would think the artist is just drawing women standing outside of their homes. I look at the painting and think maybe the rain means something emotional because usually rain makes you think of tears or death. The title says, “The Storm” making me feel like the painting is going to be dark, dull and full of rain, but in the painting you can hardly see the rain and there are aspects of the painting that are bright and stand out.