Avoid Staring at The Scream Painting for Too Long. Here's Why.

Why is the guy screaming in The Scream painting?

The Scream is one of the most instantly recognizable paintings in the art world. It was created by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in 1893. 

The painting depicts an alien-like figure screaming under the blood-red sky. Art scholars suggest that the screaming face symbolizes fear and anxiety of humanity in the modernized world.

The distorted face of the painting also inspired the ghostface mask in the slasher film “Scream,” and an emoji. In recent years, the popularity of The Scream painting has skyrocketed after it was stolen twice.

As a reference, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa has been stolen only once.

Detail of The Scream painting

There are not one but a total of four versions of the painting. Two oil paintings, and two pastels, including one lithograph. Each of those are with some variations.

The most popular one is the first version, which was painted on cardboard in 1893. 

A second version of The Scream painting was sold at $120 Million at Sotheby’s auction.

Here are some details of the 1893 artwork:

• Original Title: Skrik (Shriek)
• Type: Oil, tempera, pastel and crayon on cardboard 
• Dimensions: 91 cm x 73.5 cm 
• Painting Style: Expressionism

The Scream by Edvard Munch analysis

The Scream is a highly regarded piece in modern art. It depicts a ghoulish figure standing over a bridge in Oslo, Norway. 

His hands are pressed against his ear and his mouth is wide-opened screaming in horror, angst and pain.

But his scream doesn’t seem to bother the two men on the bridge, and the fishermen in the fjord.

Further, there is a high tension where his head is placed because the fluid shapes crash on the strong line of the bridge.

The use of contrasting colors in The Scream painting is also notable. The blood-red sky contrasts to the weak green of land on the right, while the intense orange color contrasts with the blue color of fjord.

Some believe the sky is red because of the volcanic eruption of Mt Krakatoa in Indonesia—the deadliest in recorded history—which was heard as far as from 5000 km and turned the sky into blood red. 

However, this is debatable since the eruption occurred ten years prior to Munch’s painting, and also because Munch was unlikely to paint a realistic depiction of sky as he was an expressionist.

As per the distorted face of the figure, it is based on a Peruvian mummy Munch saw in Paris. Again, this is also disputed.

Why did Edvard Munch paint The Scream?

Edvard Munch suffered from depression and loneliness for much of his life. The imagery of The Scream painting is perhaps based on a panic attack he suffered a year prior.

He was coming back with two friends after visiting his sister at a mental asylum in Oslo when he sensed “a scream passing through nature.”

He wrote, 

“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.”

Later, Munch captured his tormented mind and his emotions via art.

But there is a twist. It’s not the guy who is screaming here; it’s nature. Munch described it as an infinite scream passing through nature.

How was The Scream painting made?

In 1893, Edvard Munch made the original scream painting on cardboard using cadmium yellow, vermilion, ultramarine and viridian pigments. 

Interestingly, on the right-hand side of the guy there’s chalky white smudge. This is probably due to candle wax which might have dripped from burning candles in Munch’s studio.

Why is the artwork so important? 

The Scream painting acted as a catalyst for the Symbolist and the Expressionist movement. Along with Vincent van Gogh and James Ensor, Edvard Munch founded those key art movements that were prevalent in the interwar period.

Arthur Lubow described The Scream painting as “an icon of modern art, a Mona Lisa for our time.”

Conclusion

Great works have been made both before and after The Scream. But what makes this painting stand out from the rest is, this was the first instance when someone captured anxiety so vividly. 

Some reported to hear a scream when looking at the painting for too long. It's as if a vivid image of a tormented mind who is desperate to die.

Yes; 

At the time when Munch painted The Scream, he was suicidal. 

Most of his family members—his mother, older sister, and his father—all of whom he loved so much had died before 1893. And his younger sister was a patient in a mental asylum. 

Later, Munch wrote in his diary, 

“I live with the dead—my mother, my sister, my grandfather, my father… kill yourself and then it's over. Why live?”

Can you hear the scream now?