That said, Knausgaard never underestimates the painter’s labor and study, and this book stands as a sincere, often lyrical and penetrating attempt to enter the world of another artist. He displays confidence about theories he has misunderstood. When he is at a loss to explain a painting’s effect on him, Knausgaard periodically lapses into clichés. Such superb moments are offset by less successful passages. Art can sometimes break through the blinding conventions that dictate our perceptions. The writer enacts on the page exactly what he hopes to convey. His analysis of his own feelings is bracing. He has walked into the land of the experts and visual artists and is afraid of looking like an 'idiot' when the exhibition is mounted. Knausgaard’s response to the varying opinions of those he encounters is at once measured, insightful and tinged with comedy. Knausgaard’s ambition is to whittle away at the legend to arrive at insights about the genesis of the art itself, and not only Munch’s art, but all art.
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