The Story behind Edvard Munch's "The Scream"

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“The Scream” was painted by the Norwegian artist Edvard Munk in 1893. Like many works, in this period from 1893 to 1910, Munk painted several versions of it. Scream is a series of Scenes of Life in which the Norwegian Expressionist explores the themes of life: love, fear, sex, anxiety. There are different views of it. Some see the figure in the foreground as covered by some horror and consider the image as a symbol of "universal horror". Others see the picture as an icon of existential suffering. The painting clearly express the sense of shout: a huge cry, full of space, hopeless, helpless, a cry acting as a symbol. They say that it was originally titled "The Cry of Nature" (Der Schrei der Natur). But that's not the exact explanation. To the above quotation we can add that "The Scream" is a brilliant expression of the soul’s loneliness in which intellectuals often fall. The helpless human figure in the foreground, the obscure distant figures, and the disturbing landscape highlight the cry that expresses the impotence of a person who felt weak and lonely among the greatness of nature. From a philosophical point of view, the painting is a product of existentialism and is a harbinger of the popular theme of alienation in the 20th century - the theme of alienation and loneliness. The paint depicts a shrill human figure with wide open mouths and eyes covering the head with his hands. A significant place in the background is occupied by a hovering low red-orange sky. Beneath it, the obscure summed outlines of the marine landscape are outlined.

I was walking along a path with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned bloody red – I stopped, feld 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.

This memo, written in Edvard Munch 's diary on January 22, 1892, tells us that nature in the paint is the Bay of Oslofjord, where the city of the same name is situated.
The primary cause of the work is the extraordinary and impressive northern natural paintings. The terrible and threatening impact that such land possesses unleashes a desperate animal cry of fear. The whole landscape in Munch 's painting is marked by those boiling fiery vibrations in which a man has fallen and can’t fight. Exiting the personal situation with nature and experience, Munch's painting becomes the embodiment of human fear. At the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo is the most famous oil version of the "Scream". The painting was stolen twice: in 1994 and 2004. The first time the work was returned in a few months. The second time in 2006, it was with some damages. After restoration, in 2008 the painting was exposed again, but at the right end there is a stain.

The only version of the plot, which is in private hands, is packed with pastel technique. It was painted in 1894. On May 2, 2012, this painting was sold for $ 119,922,500, which is a record for a work of art. Munch portrays life - through illness, death, sexuality, anxiety ... Once he shares the following: Leonardo da Vinci dissected the human body and solved it. What I aspire to with all my might is to dissect the human soul." Today we can safely confirm that he has achieved it with his paintings. Especially with "The Scream" that resonates with all our human fears over time.