Edvard Munch's 'The Scream'

[left-of-center2012]

Edvard Munch's The Scream may be one of the most recognizable images in art history, but the British Museum thinks most people have got it all wrong. The figure isn't screaming—he's hearing a scream, the curator of a new exhibit tells the Telegraph. This debate has actually been going on for years, but the museum says Munch's own words make things clear.

As Quartz explains, the museum is featuring a rare black-and-white lithograph that predates the more famous later painting. Below the lithograph, Munch wrote: "I felt the great scream throughout nature." He was referring to the anxiety he felt one day while walking in nature when the sky turned red. Basically, the figure is hearing, or sensing, a scream from nature, according to this interpretation.

The inscription "makes clear that Munch's most famous artwork depicts a person hearing a 'scream' and not, as many people continue to assume and debate, a person screaming," says Giulia Bartrum of the museum. "He was trying to capture an emotion or moment in time. Through the inscription we know how he felt. People think this is a screaming person, but that's not what is going on."

http://www.newser.com/story/272931/the-scream-figure-may-not-actually-be-screaming.html

[Ohiogal]

1. Such a great work

and yes he is supposed to be hearing a scream.

I think, though, as with most any artwork, it’s totally up to the viewer to decide what he/she sees in the piece.

[happybird]

9. Read an interesting article a few months ago

on how this and two other paintings were reactions to technological advancements. That head certainly does resemble a giant light bulb.

https://www.wired.com/story/how-science-and-tech-left-an-imprint-on-3-iconic-paintings/amp

[Perseus]

10. Some pieces do have to be explained

I am an artist, as a hobby, and my work is usually realist, I do portraits, but once in a while I will venture in the, not abstract, but more contemporary, which I enjoy a lot because I like to put special meaning on each one, and I paint them much faster than the detailed portrait, which has to be as close as possible as the sitter, people must be able to tell who the person is.

Anyway, I have a couple that I painted in four small canvas (8" x 10" ) each, one is very telling because it is called "One night stand" (they meet, the go out together, they have sex, then she leaves), I don't have to explain that one, but the other one reflects what I see is "Society's Cycle", and only one person has been able to describe most of what is happening. I put it in a show and I had to write down the description because, and this is from my personal view, I do want people to understand exactly what and why I painted each one.

When I didn't have the description it just flew over most people's head, and they just walked by it like "OK, interesting", but after I put the description they stayed, some laughed, most had comments, which was great.

[delisen]

2. Is it the scream we hear today as nature readies to shut us down?

[Ohiogal]

3. I thought of that myself ...

The earth is screaming over all the abuse she’s taken at the hands of us humans.

[MLAA]

5. +1

[delisen]

7. Well said. n/t

[Anon-C]

4. Munch's description sounds like he's experiencing synethesia.

Loll....it looks that way as well.

[LakeArenal]

6. I always thought he is hearing a siren or screaming

And screaming in response.

Something like this:



https://m.

[KPN]

8. A truly remarkable piece of art.

I have always thought it looked like hearing a screech if not a scream.

[crazytown]

11. The full scream quote

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

[samnsara]

12. im still going for him.....her screaming...their mouth is wide open!

[PatrickforO]

13. Yes, the earth screams at the destruction caused by capitalism.

This has always been one of my favorite paintings. Yes, hearing a scream, but screaming too, in sympathy with our earth at the damage our species has done to all life.

I sometimes say, "Once you know, you can't ever go back," and it is true. Once you wake up to the horrors we are inflicting on this planet, all the life that is on it, and see our cruelty and greed, it is hard not to scream right along with the great earth soul.

[lunatica]

15. I always thought it was a scream related to the figure's surroundings

Like Van Gough in his paintings giving nature a visceral, wild presence with the skies and landscapes alive with vortices and motion. I also think he saw nature as living, feeling scapes of raw emotion. The Scream is like that, though I’ve mistakenly thought it was the figure screaming.

I’m glad to know the truth. It adds so much more to the painting!

[samnsara]

14. im voting for the man leaning against the fence as the author of the quote...

..because maybe the person in the foreground is nature screaming. ..JMHP cuz its 9 30 am and im on my 2nd mimosa.

[William Seger]

16. I've never liked that painting

Whatever else you can say about it, including calling it great art, I think it's ugly.

There! I've said it! After all these years, I feel like a free man!