The painting “The Scream” by Edvard Munch is a terrible prophetic symbol of the 20th century

The Scream is a painting created by the amazing artist Edvard Munch. The work reflects the emotional state of the author, which arose from the contemplation of nature. Three main areas are clearly distinguished on the canvas. The first is the bridge, elongated at an angle to the left and filling the entire foreground. The second area is the coastal landscape and rolling plain. And finally, the sky, indicated by curved broad strokes in orange, yellow, scarlet and blue-green colors.

The foreground connects with the background, and the wavy lines of the hills cut into the sky. The strict linearity of the bridge railing contrasts with the forms of the landscape. Images of people behind are elongated and seem to dissolve in the air. The outlines of the figure in the foreground are curved and combined with a deformed natural background – with this technique, Munch connected the protagonist with the surrounding space.

When looking at the picture, the viewer does not leave the feeling of universal agony – the artist seems to foresee the impending catastrophe that awaits humanity in the 20th century. Despite the simple palette of colors and the most simplified images, the master conveys the deepest emotions of the character with incredible accuracy: despair, horror, loneliness. With stingy artistic means, the author managed to show the impotence of people in the face of the hostility of the natural elements.

Name of the painting: “Scream” (Norwegian Skrik).
Author: Edvard Munch (1863-1944).
Year of writing: 1893
Size: 91 x 73.5 cm.
Style: Expressionism.
Genre: Landscape.
Technique: Oil, tempera, pastel.
Material: Cardboard.
Location: National Gallery, Oslo, Norway.

Edvard Munch is a brilliant painter and graphic artist of the 19th-20th centuries.

The theme of his works is life, death and fear. The artist expressed his disturbing feelings, rejecting the styles and trends known to art. During an evening walk along the bay in the south-eastern part of Norway, the artist noticed that the clouds were “bloodshot”. It seemed to him that a painful cry was coming from the sky. It was this mystical sound that the master wrote throughout his life. He persistently repeated the mysterious plot in subsequent works.

Munch’s biographers explain the nature of the sound that the painter could hear on the shore of the bay in Oslo with real reasons. Within earshot of the place depicted in the picture, there was a slaughterhouse, and next to it was a clinic for the mentally ill, where the artist’s sister was treated. Thus, we can conclude that the work is based on the personal traumatic experience of the author. The painting “The Scream” by Edvard Munch, appealing to the hidden emotions of man, had a significant impact on art. The image of the screaming hero became iconic in expressionism and entered popular culture as a symbol of horror and despair.