The cut log on the bottom of the painting symbolizes...

The cut log on the bottom of the painting symbolizes thoughts of death and remorse (Loshak, 278); nevertheless, it appears to be transforming into smoke; according to Schneede, the latter symbolizes the dead flame of love, leaving only ashes behind (61). In order to analyze the woman’s mental state and to understand her clear gestures, one could look at this work through Kantian, as well as Heideggerian, eyes.

The woman is currently standing in a dark forest, accompanied only by her lover, who seems to have abandoned her, and numerous trees. She feels alone and is overwhelmed by the forest. As she looks around, she only sees more trees and darkness. The woman suddenly feels the true might of the forest; in other words, she experiences Kant’s dynamic sublime.

She starts off filled with anxiety, due to her now-failing love affair, and then notices the surroundings, which she ignored before due to being consumed by lust. The protagonist is currently in a “crisis,” which is supposed to be followed by “recovery” (Liu, 189), if the subject is to truly experience the sublime.

Furthermore, she experiences “a certain loss and non-presence of self” (Bernstein, 1126); in other words, she experiences the sublime just as she looks up and notices her true surroundings. According to Heidegger, “truth is set to work” in a work of art, and “to be a work, means to set up a world” (Heidegger, 43).

Ashes as a work does indeed reveal a truth to the observer; it reveals the truth of the lovers - the earth - as well as the break with inauthenticity, or the plunge into authenticity - the world. “The world,” Heidegger contends, “is the self-disclosing openness of the broad paths in the simple and essential decisions in the destiny of a historical people. The earth is the spontaneous forthcoming of that which is continually self-secluding and to that extent sheltering and concealing.

World and earth are essentially different from one another and yet are never separated” (Heidegger, 47). Earth shows us the obvious, which is the clear setting to be observed. World, however, goes beyond that, un-concealing the earth and exposing what lies beyond it. This work truly “makes manifest what beings as a whole are” (Bruin, 454) and is thus labeled “great art” in Heidegger’s discussion.

From a simple love affair that is about to end, filled with remorse and regret, Munch allows the spectator to see that, in addition to opening up a ‘world’, art allows truth to happen.