The Scream

E.Munch, 1893. The Scream [oil and pastel]. National Gallery, Oslow, Norway.

Normally, Munch’s art represented his own emotions especially the darker ones of fear, dread, loneliness, and sexual longing. His most famous artwork is The Scream. The Scream is a lithograph that was painted by Edvard Munch in 1893.

The screaming figure in this painting shows existing horror. A previous drawing of the same concept, is a drawing of a man (which is Munch himself) on a similar bridge and with a blood-red sky above. A text was found accompanying that drawing which said:  “I walked with two friends. Then the sun sank. Suddenly the sky turns as red as blood … My friends walked on, and I was left alone, trembling with fear. I felt as if all nature were filled with one mighty unending shriek.”

It is known that in The Scream, Munch has drawn a spiritual experience. The figure is unrealistic. It swirls as if to continue with the pattern of the landscape. Munch did not paint his own appearance but the way he was feeling. The Scream is expressionistic because Munch expressed his feelings through this painting. 

References:

ArtHistoryLuv, 2013. Private Life of a Masterpiece [video online] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLnR5ki8JgM> [Accessed 30 March 2014].

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, 2006. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. [online] Available at: <http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/1984.1203.1> [Accessed 30 March 2014].