Interpretation Edvard Munch - Madonna

Edvard Munch - Madonna 

1894-95

Oil on canvas

91 cm × 70.5 cm (36 in × 27.8 in).

Version from National Gallery Oslo, Oslo. 

Rosa Paardenkooper - Everyone is a Slut

Interpretation of Edvard Munch's Madonna

Istanbul. 2014. 

900x1200

Mixed Media

Process:

I found 80 passport photos of women all around the world by using the word ‘passport photo’ in various languages. I then applied these pictures onto Munch’s painting. After that I recreated the background which should intensify the whole or flames in which she lies. I then edited the picture so that her boobs would be a different colour in order from them to pop out. I finally added the word slut in a label-styled font to cover her eyes.

Explanation:

My interpretation of Munch’s work is that of a female who is enjoying sexual intercourse either with a man or with herself and loses herself in the experience, this interpretation has been hinted at before, and if true, would be highly controversial given the fact that the woman in question is referred to as the Holy Virgin, Madonna. In the current social climate of glorifying rape culture and continuous slut-shaming, sex has moved away from the pleasure Munch represents in this painting, and has become something that women in particularly need to justify themselves for, in a way similar to the criticism offered by the Christian church. In this piece I aim to criticize this tendency by taking passport photos of women from different ages, races and backgrounds and providing them all with the slut label because they are taking part in the enjoyment of the Madonna. I want to argue that there exists, and has always existed, a stigma against women taking pleasure out of sexual intercourse. To intensify the element of judgement I have embedded her in flames, which need to represent hell, this also to refer back to the original piece which in my opinion criticizes and provokes Christianity. Finally I used the reddish colour of her boobs to emphasize how the current focus is moved away from female faces and more importantly minds, and instead only looks at their bodies and how they use them. 

Other Visual references:

Rene Magritte - Rape, 1934, Brussels, oil on canvas
Rene Magritte - Dangerous liaisons, 1926, oil on canvas

Edvard Munch - Madonna 

Version from National Gallery Oslo, Oslo. 1894–95. 

91 cm × 70.5 cm (36 in × 27.8 in).

Rosa Paardenkooper - I'm Every Woman
Interpretation of Edvard Munch's Madonna

2014

Mixed Media
Istanbul

After the advice of Dr Gülan and the class I decided to change my picture into something that had a little less adjustments and was a bit easier to read. I incorporated the following changes:

Process:

I found 80 passport photos of women all around the world by using the word ‘passport photo’ in various languages. I then applied these pictures onto Munch’s painting. In addition to that I altered the saturation of the picture so as to make the colours warmer.

Explanation:

Interpreting this painting as a representation of female pleasure, no matter in which way (religious, sexual or other) we could say that this demonstrates the agency of a woman to show her pleasure. This contradicts more traditional and conservative notions of femininity in which the woman is required to stay indoors and is not supposed to be involved so much in the public sphere. This painting goes against that notion by displaying a woman who is, in my opinion, experiencing pleasure, built up out of all these different women from different backgrounds who are enjoying this pleasure with her, and are thus also allowed to express this in their daily lives. I have made the colours warmer to enhance the feeling of joy.