Art Analysis

The Scream by Edvard Munch

The title of this artwork is The Scream, painted by a Norwegian artist and printmaker, Edvard Munch. Born on December 12, 1863 in the small town of Loten, Norway and died on January 23, 1944 at the age of eighty (80). He is the second of five children of Christian Munch (father), a military doctor and his mother Laura Cathrine Munch (Bibliography by Yuri Mataev and Historical notes of Olga Mataev and Yuri Mataev).

This artwork was painted during 1893 after the end of the photographic Realist era, when artists wanted to show off their technical skills. The Scream was also painted right before the Expressionists and other artists of the early twentieth century (K Shabi, January 12, 2013). He (Edvard Munch) has four (4) version of The Scream, but this one is done through the use of oil, tempera and pastels on cardboard with the dimension of 91cm x 73.5cm (36 in x 28.9cm). (Wikipedia2013).

One of The Scream done in tempera was stolen on February 12, 1994 from The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, Norway, but it was recovered three months later during an undercover sting operation. The other version of The Scream done in crayon on cardboard was in the private collection from 1937 but it was sold at auction on May 2, 2012, during the Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale at Sotheby’s New York with the price of 119,922,500 US dollars. The other Scream done in oil, tempera and crayon on cardboard was stolen from the Munch-Museet, Oslo together with Munch’s Madonna but it was recovered both in 2006 but the both artwork was in the poor condition during the theft and prior to recovery. But the other Scream done in crayon was not stolen, nor mishandled, because some says the colors aren’t vibrant and it looks less finished than the others. (Prideaux, Sue. Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.)

But let’s dig deeper about this famous artwork. According to his (Edvard Munch) diaries, he admits that he struggled with personal insanity and also through his family. His sister was hospitalized during The Scream was painted in 1893. To understand this painting let us read some of his diaries.

"I was walking down the road with two friends when the sun set; suddenly, the sky turned as red as blood. I stopped and leaned against the fence, feeling unspeakably tired. Tongues of fire and blood stretched over the bluish black fjord. My friends went on walking, while I lagged behind, shivering with fear. Then I heard the enormous infinite scream of nature." – Edvard Munch.

This part of his diary will help us to understand or analyze this artwork. He wrote this diary during the year when Edvard Munch painted this “icon”. But what does diary mean and how is it related to this artwork? Let us analyze the Basic Semiotic Plane(study of "signs") and it's contextual plane (true meaning of the artwork or meaning of these "signs"). As you can see in the painting, there are two people walking away, maybe his friend, creating the feelings of isolation and “fear” of the artist, Edvard Munch. The diagonal rail there that shows movement, it shows that the two people behind the subject (the alien-like) truly shows isolation of the subject matter. The orange-red sky and blackish-blue fjord, that almost forming a black hole, where “tongues of fire” savagely lick at the frazzled and overwhelmed subject, unidentifiable as either a man or woman.  The alien-like image there, it is the representation of the artist and his sister whom suffer both from sickness and anxiety that’s why the subject is cannot be determined either man or woman and the combination of curve and swirling and waving lines, suggest actual physical violence experienced in their life (Legomenon 2012-2013). The eerie ship on the ford looks like Dracula’s vessel, come to bring death (theguardian.com 2012) and this one adds more “violence” to the subject matter and if you will look on his face it actually show that the artist is in scream, the mouth and eyes are widely open, his hands holding its face also show that Edvard or his sister are in scream or experiencing insanity in their life like the famous painter of The Starry Night, Vincent Van Gough whom also experienced insanity (legomenon 2012-2013).

Some says that: When it all comes down to it, a "scream" is above all a sound and an auditory sensation. The wailing of both the dying animals and the cries overheard coming from the nearby insane asylum, however faint they may have been, give an added and potent personal and autobiographical meaning to the painting's simple title. The true meaning behind the title of Edvard Munch's "soul painting". The Scream may very well comback to the dicidedly ugly, even hideous, sounds of living bings undergoing both physical and emotional suffering in the modern age, and this is according to legomenon 2012-2013.

    
Sources: Bibliography by Yuri Mataev and Historical notes of Olga Mataev and Yuri Mataev; K Shabi, January 12, 2013; legomenon 2012-2013; Prideaux, Sue. Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007; theguardian.com 2012; Wikipedia2013.