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How the scream turned into a global sound
Artworks and cryptic stories
by Andira Vitale
The figure with his hands over his ears, the protagonist of the famous painting by the Norwegian artist, is considered a universal symbol of the human feeling of anguish.
The genderless central figure in Edward Munch’s “The Scream” stands on the bridge and holds his ears. It resembles a ghost with its larger-than-normal head, long, thin hands, wavy body and pale colour. Its eyes are more significant than usual, and its cheeks resemble a hollow skull. His eyes were wide open, his mouth parted, with an expression expressing his horror. Its open mouth resembles the mouth of a screaming human being. All the lines in the painting extend towards the screaming head. In the scene where orange and red colour tones cover the sky, this figure stands with both hands between his head. But his terrifying facial features tell a lot to the audience. It reflects the “pain” and “horror” anyone can feel.
“One evening, I walked along a hilly lane near Kristiania – with two companions. It was the time when life had torn my soul to shreds. The sun was going down – it had dipped, flaming below the horizon. It looked like a fiery sword of blood cutting through the celestial vault. The sky was blood – dissected into streaks of fire – the rock faces infused a deep blue into the fjord – discolouring it to cold blue, yellow and red – The bloody red exploded – along the path and handrail – while my friends took on a pallor luminescent – I felt a great scream I heard a great scream – the colours of nature – shattering her lines – the lines and colours resonated vibrating – these oscillations of life not only made my eyes oscillate but impressed as many oscillations in the ears – because I actually heard that scream – and then I painted the picture The Scream.”
These sentences were not written after the fire, flood or earthquake, disaster or volcanic eruptions that destroyed our world in recent years…
Munch expressed these views in his diary on January 22, 1892. He would later say: “I felt a scream running through nature; I seemed to hear the scream. That’s why I painted the picture; I painted the clouds as real blood. The colour screamed and turned into this scream painting.” Munch tentò di trasporre questo tramonto “rosso sangue” in una tela in grado di restituire quella visione di “sangue coagulato” che egli stesso provò in quella sera d’estate.
“The Scream” is one of four works by painter Edvard Munch (1963 – 1944) on the same theme between 1893 and 1910. The painting with its original name (Skrik) is one of the best examples of the artist’s works in which he reflects various emotional states. And it is among the most well-known paintings in art history after Leonardo da Vinci.
Spirit of Time
Before the “Scream” was born, the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia erupted in August 1883, and such crimson twilights were seen all over Europe. The explosion, with a power equivalent to hundreds of nuclear bombs, produced the loudest sound ever heard in modern history.
Announcing the cry of nature to Munch, the place is a suburb north of Oslo. The Scream painting, which has been described as the universal expression of the feeling of anxiety over the years, can also be considered the fruit of the artist’s tragic life. The artist’s mother and older sister, who had a shaky childhood, died before the painter turned 14. Her father and sister both struggled with depression, her sister was admitted to a mental hospital, and her father died 12 years later. The city’s slaughterhouse and the mental hospital where Munch’s sister Laura was locked up were also here.
Kristiania (today Oslo) 1895
Munch was battling illness, failure, and unrequited love when he painted.
Munch writes his feelings in his diary and paints humanity’s common disasters, pains, fears and helplessness with his brush. He does this by reflecting the expression of fear and astonishment that occurs on a person’s face and facial expressions on his canvas.
Muse of the Scream
Art historians expressed an opinion that the Peruvian Mummy inspired Munch. They stated that the figure in the painting resembles the Peruvian Mummy exhibited at the World’s Fair in Paris in 1889. The position of the Mummy is reminiscent of the figure we see in The Scream, with her hands grasping both sides of her face. There is a noticeable resemblance between the Mummy and Munch’s figures.
While the figure is screaming, the two tall people behind her seem “quite calm”. Their backs are turned to us and the central figure in the foreground. The bridge in the picture compresses the person screaming with fear into a narrow and uncomfortable space. All the figures mentioned above are on a bridge that enters our visible area from the composition’s lower right corner, extending towards the distant background and exiting from our perspective. With the bridge filling the left side of the composition, Munch created a sense of space and distance and used perspective elements skillfully.
Kharoon’s death boat
To the composition’s right, we see a broad swirling landscape with a body of water in the middle. There are hills in the distance and what appears to be a set to the composition’s right. In the far background, there are two boats. Could these boats represent Acheron, the death boat of Kharoon crossing the river of dead souls? It is possible if we consider that Munch handles the theme of death in many of his paintings; the terrible sound of nature he hears or the bridge is a symbol reminiscent of death…
These distant figures contrast the screaming person, making him seem lonely and isolated. Although the two people and the ship in the picture appear calm, fear reigns in the air. The strange twisting lines represent echoes of the frightening voice Munch heard. With a burning blood-red sky above, the whole scene accompanies the pain and excitement of that scream.
Munch’s painting also shows the fragmentation of the human soul and its loneliness in crowds. It reveals the alienation of man from the society in which he lives. There are no longer the ties that bind us to the world. Humans are just creatures and have no meaning. In this chaotic environment, humans, Without the concept of commitment, do not know what to do in the face of the meaninglessness of life. The fact that the person in the picture is in front of the bridge can also be associated with suicide. This describes the existential anxiety that Munch was experiencing at that moment. Everything else appears as it should, except for the person at the centre of the Edward Munch scream painting. This means the figure cannot cope with many situations spiritually and finally screams. Naturally, this iconic painting also symbolized the anxiety and fear represented in the expressionism movement in the 19th century.
As mentioned above, Munch transferred everything he witnessed, experienced, saw and heard throughout his life into this work. Here, the power of nature, human helplessness, loneliness, troubles and fears of humans are seen. There is also a reason why the gender of the screaming figure in the painting is unknown. This is to emphasize that these human feelings are universal and without identity. The fact that the person in the picture can’t keep what he’s going through reflects it outside and covers his ears with his hands and ears by experiencing intense emotions, allowing one to think about the meaning of the scream painting.
Colours, lines and master brush strokes…
Munch uses colours by associating them with the impressive and fluid nature of brush strokes to convey the ordinary state of the human being. Dominant colours are reds, oranges, greens, blues, browns and shades of black. Creates an earthy scene with matte tones.
The sky creates a sizeable horizontal field of reds and oranges and visually dominates the rest of the lighter colours. The landscape under the sky is depicted in more earthy tones, such as blue for the water, green for the hill, and brown for the bridge. The central figure in the foreground is painted yellow, making it look almost sickly. This composition has several contrasting colours, and Munch also uses complementary colours. But he applies them beyond the ideas of reality and emphasises his inner state through colour.
There is also a strong sense of line in the painting. These lines, combined with the rotating brushstrokes, emphasize the inner world. The entire composition is a swirl of colours, and the brushstrokes in this way emphasize the linearity of the painting. There is a contrast between curves and straight lines. This is evident in the straight lines from the bridge and the divergence of the two figures close to the background, balanced by the curvilinear solid lines from the foreground figure and much of the composition to the right.
The painting has three main areas: “The bridge, a distant landscape, and the blood-red sky”. The components all mix together and spin together to suggest a state of mind. The hard lines of the bridge contrast with the abstract background and draw our attention to the two dark figures lurking in the background, again depicted in straight, hard lines.
Screaming is also a balance exercise. The rich reds and oranges balance the greys and blacks in the picture’s foreground in the background. In addition, the swirling movements of the sky and landscape are also balanced by the straight lines of the bridge.
Four Versions
There are 4 Scream paintings made at different times. A different technique is used in each. One is oil, tempera and pastel on cardboard, two pastel interpretations and one tempera painting. Previous versions were made in 1893; both are now in Oslo, Norway. One made of pastel is on display at the Munch Museum, and the other in tempera at the National Gallery. Some believe that the pastel version can be a preparatory sketch for painting. La versione del 1895 – quella con i colori più accesi che vedete qui sopra – è stata venduta all’asta nel 2012 per quasi 120 milioni di dollari!
The rising scream in popular culture
One of the most important aspects of The Scream is that it transcends the history of art and has become a cornerstone of popular culture rather than its effect on the following art. The outcry was sung, caricatured, and often publicized; because he was much more famous than his creator.
In 1983, Andy Warhol produced a series of prints featuring The Scream, which he claimed was intended to sanctify the image.
Perhaps most well-known, it inspired the villain in “The Scream”. The killer’s mask was inspired by the painting and made by Brigitte Slieirtein. The Simpsons, Muppets and Joker are among these examples.
The Scream has influenced the magazine, advertisement and television industries and many artists. Among them, we can count Francis Bacon again.
The Mystery of the Scream Painting
A mysterious, barely visible inscription in pencil was found on the image of the Scream. “Kan kun være malet af en gal Mand!” An extensive search was made of what this article is about. And a phrase meaning “can only be drawn by a madman” arose. There has been debate about whether Munch wrote this, but National Museum curator Mai Britt Guleng studied Munch’s handwriting extensively and declared it true.
Guleng said, “First, the handwriting is the same. I compared the sentence in The Scream with the handwriting in other notes and letters.
Also, Guleng adds, “Munch didn’t paint it over to hide it either.” The inscription is believed to have been written a few years after the painting was completed.
Edward Munch