Edvard Munch's "The Scream" - A Description

Edvard Munch was born in Norway in 1863. Right after his graduation in Oslo, Munch enlisted with the Norwegian avant-garde. Munch studied the works of Gauguin, Van Gogh, and Toulese-Lautrec, in an effort to gain some insight into and pressure the establishment more. This was all done, of course, peacefully, with easy recourse as the pen and the paintbrush is always mightier than the sword, especially in the 19^th and 20^th century. Munch is counted among the foremost pioneers of the new art of painting. This opposite of natural spectatorship and painting, tends to inwardly redress the emotional experience and place that onto the canvas.

Unfortunately in 1908, Munch suffered a nervous breakdown, after which his portrait paintings forever were changed by this traumatic experience. From this nervous breakdown came one of the most significant works of art, along all lines regardless of secular viewpoints. The Scream is the most important and well known work of art by Edward Munch, and has been the subject of many discussion groups, and continues to this day, to be a point of argument and conjecture. The painting is marvelously done in only a few basic and primal colors. This is unusual for work of this time era as many of the competitive and collaborate artist of Munch, used a multitude, almost a plethora of basic colors and joined- mixed colors, too attempt to recreate, the effect of natural beauty in both nature and portraits. What Munch done is to create a very strong emotional painting and use only a basic set of naturally occurring coloration options. Set near a bridge, and what could have been any number of bridges in Norway or Western Europe, the painting shows a man in terror or at least distress, covering his ears, as two individuals are seen walking away. The clouds and the river make The Scream, very interesting to loom at and think about.

With so much emotional appeal and so much theory about the cause and effect of The Scream, one would be hard-pressed to find another painting that is so intertwined in controversy, and perfection, all at once. The Scream, offers a plethora of emotions, from fear and panic, to excitement, and even rage. In the end only Munch truly knows what The Scream is trying to say, and the story has it that he took that to his grave, in 1944. Edward Munch, and The Scream, is two of the most indelible and penetrating works of art in all of the world’s portrait painting endeavors. Munch created several versions of the screen and also use several different forms of media, as well here it the munch museum presently holds two of the painted versions, and one solitary pastel variation of the screen. The National Gallery of Norway holds the only other painted version, which is the one that most people are most readily familiar with. All in all any version of The Scream, by Edward Munch, is a priceless entity and one that will be argued about, till the end of time.