In this episode we will follow Edvard Munch’s existential angst, anxiety, and the agony of modern life expressed in his iconic painting The Scream of 1893. We will discuss the torment of alienation – of existing in the world but not belonging.

We will focus on the aesthetics of self-confrontation - howMunch's choice of visual language serves as a raw, unmediated expression of his fragmented mind.

The Scream's peculiar composition, however, was not just Munch's aesthetic choice. It was a form of resilience. We will therefore analyse the 'coping mechanisms' embedded in this work of art, because I believe that by studying how Munch successfully externalised his darkest internal struggles, we can find a blueprint for navigating our own anxieties and emotional complexities in the modern world.Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1893, oil, tempera, pastel and crayon on canvas, 91x73,5cm, National Museum and Munch Museum, Oslo

In this episode, we zoom in on Paul Gauguin’s painting Vision after the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel) painted in 1888 and displayed in the collection of the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. We will discuss how Gauguin steered away from representation of objective reality and moved towards expression of inner personal vision.

Artworks mentioned:

Paul Gauguin, Vision after the Sermon (Jacob Wrestling with the Angel), 1888, oil on canvas, Scottish National Gallery, Edinburgh

Paul Gauguin, ⁠Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?⁠, 1897-1898, oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Rembrandt, Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, c.1659, oil on canvas, Gemäldegalerie, Berlin

Eugène Delacroix, Jacob Wrestling with the Angel, 1854-1861, mural, Chapel of the Holy Angels in the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris

The very first episode of The Bigger Picture takes a closer look at Caravaggio's famous early painting called Medusa, painted in 1597. The work which was commissioned by Cardinal del Monte as a gift for Ferdinando I de Medici of Florence is a captivating image of a mythological monster with Caravaggio's own face. Referring to Jungian concept of 'Individuation', and Josef Kroutvor's theory of 'authentic portrait', I will read Caravaggio's painting as the author's attempt to reconcile the two sides of his own personality - his public image of a successful young artist who enjoys the patronage of Rome's elite circles, and an unpredictable temperament rebel balancing atodds with the law.