polity kingdom of norway unionconcept:era modern

The Scream

Tempera, pastel, and crayon on cardboard (1893) by Edvard Munch, depicting a solitary anguished figure against a swirling blood-red sky over an Oslo fjord. The most iconic of Munch's four versions of The Scream (two paintings, two pastels, 1893–1910). Held at the National Museum of Norway, Oslo.

Scholarly Significance

Anchor the Symbolism/Expressionism cluster with Munch's The Scream (1893 tempera version), one of the most recognisable images in Western art and a founding work of psychological Expressionism.

Notes

·Munch described the experience inspiring the work in his diary (22 January 1892): 'I was walking along the road with friends — the Sun was setting — suddenly 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 — and I sensed an endless scream passing through nature.'
·The location is the path on Ekeberg hill, Christiania (Oslo), with the Oslofjord and Bærum visible in the background.
·The swirling red sky has been hypothesised to reflect a genuine atmospheric phenomenon: ash clouds from the 1883 Krakatoa eruption produced vivid sunsets visible in northern Europe in 1883–84. The 1892 diary entry may conflate memory with earlier observations.
·Four versions exist: (1) 1893 tempera/pastel/crayon on cardboard (National Museum, Oslo); (2) 1893 pastel (Munch Museum, Oslo); (3) 1895 pastel (private collection; sold Christie's 2012, $119.9m); (4) 1910 tempera on cardboard (Munch Museum).
·The 1893 National Museum version was stolen from the National Gallery in 1994 and recovered in the same year; a second version was stolen from the Munch Museum in 2004 and recovered in 2006.
·Munch's handwritten inscription on the frame of the National Museum version: 'Can only have been painted by a madman' (1895).
·Dimensions: 91 × 73.5 cm.