Edvard Munch · The Scream

1893 – Oil, tempera and pastel on cardboard – National Gallery of Norway, Oslo

“The Scream” is Edgard Munch’s most famous work and one of the most easily recognizable paintings of the modern era. Plus, the popularity of the work has increased in recent times. First in 2006, when it was stolen, along with a “Madonna” by the same painter, in one of the most important art robberies of the last years, already solved. And six years later, when a pastel version of this painting was auctioned for $120 million, then an auction record for any work of art.

Beyond controversies, the painting is nowadays a symbol of the suffering of the contemporary world. The heartrending, deathly pale figure and the bloody colours of the landscape in the background, in addition to the forced perspective, cause an immediate sensation of anguish and anxiety. Munch himself described this painting with these words: “One night I was walking along a lane, on one side stood the town and underneath the Fjord, I was tired and sick. I stopped to look beyond the fjord — the sun was getting down — the clouds were tinged with a blood-red, I heard a cry across Nature: I almost thought of hearing it. I painted this picture, I painted the clouds like true blood. Colours were crying…”

Text: G. Fernández, theartwolf.com