The Scream by Edvard Munch

The Scream - 1893 - Edvard Munch b. 1863 d. 1944. 

This work is most definitely one of the greatest pastel works of expressionist eloquence and in the top 10 most expensive paintings ever sold in art history. The rare painting sold for $119 m in 2012 and is now housed at the National Gallery, Oslo, Norway. It is a startling picture of a 1000 words in an age of industrial growth in Europe and militarization of the European powers. The color scheme used is bright and imaginative to the point of dizziness as the distorted subject swirls into a new level of madness. Munch's preoccupation with the exploration of mental health comes to the fore. the painting becomes the precursor to the Expressionists of the early 20th century that sought to explore the inner working of the mind and express emotions on canvas.

The inspiration to Edvard Munch to create this piece came in a strange way. As he wrote in his diary: "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." At once Munch launches into an enormous shift in the history of art where earlier the Romantic movement of the 19th century dealt with Man as the hero of nature. Now, all of a sudden we have mental paralysis, anxiety and emotional issues triggered by fears over the unknown that rise for rocks and stone. This is a radical departure to say the least for man no longer becomes the subject so much as the state of man's mind according to Edvard Munch. Reddish skies and dark unwholesome imagery of the Fjord evokes a sense of hell and desperation that the subject suddenly cannot cope with in his mind. At issue is the torment of the soul which no longer seems heroic cast within congenial settings. Edvard Munch caused such a stir in the art world upon releasing this analysis of the emotional and psychological state of man who now has become the product of the new industrial modern world.

Reflections on art by Pieter Bergli

See also - https://www.pinterest.com/myartmusings/

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