Munch's relationship with his painting, as well as its interpretation, is a favorite topic of critics and experts. Someone thinks that cowering in terror of people coming from everywhere responds to the cry of nature. Others believe that Munch foresaw all the catastrophes and upheavals that await humanity in the twentieth century, and portrayed the horror of the future and, at the same time, the impossibility of overcoming it. However, you are right, the emotionally charged picture became one of the first works of expressionism and for many remained its emblem, and the themes of despair and loneliness reflected in it turned out to be the main ones in the art of modernism.
The image in the painting "The Scream" by Munch has appeared more than once in different types of art. If you remember the famous mask from the movie "Scream", this picture inspired it.