Posted on 10/30/2022 4:29:58 PM PDT by nickcarraway
You don’t get much more well-known in the art world than The Scream by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. The haunting, painful expression of the subject is one of the most famous images in history, affecting everyone who comes across it. Since its completion in 1893, it has been hailed as one of the more profound visual depictions of anxiety and mental disorders, and duly, it had a definitive impact on the burgeoning Expressionist movement of the early 20th century.
The painting is so famous that we see it ubiquitous in broader popular culture. These include Arthur Janov using an impression of it on the cover of his influential 1970 work The Primal Scream, Macaulay Culkin imitating it on the poster of Home Alone, and the Ghostface mask from Wes Craven’s Scream movies that we see everywhere on Halloween. Aside from Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, no artwork has pierced culture quite like Munch’s, evoking terror and intrigue from all those familiar with it.
One of the main reasons The Scream is so storied is the mystery behind what influenced it, with no definitive account ever given by Munch. From blood-red sunsets to his sister’s internment at a local lunatic asylum, many people have offered potential explanations for Munch’s decision to create such a stark piece of work. Despite the background noise, one thing is certain – that day, he was inspired or even possessed – depending on how you see it.
One of the most substantial accounts of why Munch conceived the painting comes from the man himself. Under one of his diary entries, headed Nice 22 January 1892, he wrote: ” One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord – the sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red. I sensed a scream passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The colour shrieked. This became The Scream.”
Later, he would describe the inspiration for his masterwork in more detail: “I was walking along the road with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.”
Although it was Munch who discussed the hellscape over the fjord that initially inspired him, others have sought to dig deeper into the painting, with many questions surrounding the provenance of this blood-red sky and screaming figure, concerned with whether he was being literal or figurative.
Some have pointed to the artist’s memory of the immense volcanic eruption of Krakatoa, which affected the colour of the skies in the Western Hemisphere for months over 1883 and 1884, just under a decade before The Scream came to life. It may be dubious, but Munch’s recollection of the residual effects of this generational disaster could well have impacted his painting.
Another motive for the red skies in the painting could be the occurrence of the hypnotic nacreous clouds that can be found in Norway, as they are very similar to those seen in the picture.
Elsewhere, regarding the overarching theme of the painting, people have mentioned that the presence of a local lunatic asylum and slaughterhouse might have inspired the blood-red mania that the image conveys. The latter is fed by the condition of Munch’s sister and the influence that nihilist thinker Hans Jæger had on the artist, encouraging him to paint his emotional and psychological state, which he might have extended to his sibling.
Finally, in 1978 Robert Rosenblum opined that the haunted creature in the foreground of the image might have been inspired by that of a Peruvian mummy, which Munch possibly viewed at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris, as it was buried in the fetal position with its hands alongside its face and bears an eerie resemblance to Munch’s painting.
In a way, it wouldn’t be right if we knew the exact reasons for Munch deciding to paint The Scream, as the intrigue surrounding it only serves to heighten the mix of stark emotions it conveys.
Very nice to have around Halloween.
Some democrat exposed himself?
I saw a documentary on Munch in the seventies. He had a sister who died of tuberculosis. It affected him deeply.
I’m pretty sure the guy screaming just stepped on his kids’ Legos.
“Hillary Voter Hearing Trump Won”
Somebody just convinced Hillary that this guy has evidence.
I spent a week touring in Norway decades ago and of course went to the National Museum. This is an astonishing painting. And the Norwegians were, at that time, amazing people.
Food was fish three times a day, which might be the reason for the scream.
This may be #3 (behind Mona Lisa and the Creation on the Sistine Chapel ceiling) among fine art memes.
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