I usually don't get the chance to write journals. So i decided to post my papers from school every now and then instead (this might sound retarded to some and interesting to others). What I posted today is an analysis for my Visual Culture class. The assignment was to analyze an image, building or an object that were mentioned in one of Laurie Schneider Adam's books in two methodologies that were explained to us in class. So I decided to write about Edvard Munch's "Scream". Being that it's (arguably) the second most famous painting in the world, and that I've actually seen it in the museum, I thought it would be challenging to write something original about a painting that i've personally experienced. So here it is. Please forgive my first paragraph it may come off as sort of cheesy, I had to write what methodologies i was using to prevent confusion. To people who are slightly interested in Munch and also have the time to read 2 pages worth of text.. here it is:






The Scream
“I paint not what I see, but what I saw”
(-Edvard Munch)


This essay is a psychoanalytic and formalist approach to The Scream (1893) by Edvard Munch (1863–1944), an exceptionally emotional philosopher and painter who is now known as one of the progenitors of Expressionisms along with Vincent van Gogh. Munch’s anaturalistic paintings of the breadth of human emotions has reflected his personal experiences throughout his career and the parallel between his artistic skills and his psychological state is apparent in every painting and image he has composed.

Munch was introduced to the philosophy of Symbolism and aesthetics early in his career. It is clear in his first self-portrait, done when he was only seventeen, that painting naturalistically was no challenge to him. Frantic with neurosis and traumatized by the early deaths of his sister and mother made him come to the understanding that art should be dedicated to personal mindset and emotions rather than what one observes visually.

This unique artistic perception of the 19th century painter becomes definite in his most popularized piece, The Scream, now in possession of the National Gallery in Norway. The painting depicts an anatomically incorrect figure standing along the fjords of Christiania (now Oslo) holding his hands on each side of his skull-like head against the dark blue fjord, looking at the viewer engaging the viewers attention. The blood-red sky and the black-blue Christiania fjord painted with curvilinear brush strokes contrasting to the sharp straight lines of the road and the railing, differentiates the foreground from the background. The figure’s curvy vertical brush strokes are correlative to the red sky, emphasizing on the important connection between the figure’s emotions and the atmosphere he has found himself in. The two people strolling casually in the left side of the painting, walking away from the focal point, accentuates the loneliness and helplessness of the figure in the foreground. Looking carefully at the heart of the blood red sky in the first painted version of this image, one can find the pencil marks of the handwritten comment “Kan kun være malt af en gal mand!” (“Could only have been painted by a madman!” ). It is unknown whether or not it is Edvard Munch’s handwriting. What is known, however, is that Munch deliberately let the comment stay in his painting as a testament to what state of mind this image is projecting. The connection between this painting and his psychological conditions are confirmed by his own comments about the painting: “I was walking along the road with two friends, the sun set, I felt a tinge of melancholy, suddenly the sky became a bloody red, I stopped, leaned against the railing, […] my friends walked on, I stood there, trembling with fright, and I felt a loud, unending scream piercing nature” (-Edvard Munch).

Representing his own inner turmoil and anxieties through this image, Munch seems to have intentionally used colours and subject matter to tell a narrative possibly about failed love, jealousy and despair. The paintings setting, a blood-red sunset, conjures associations between death, despair and the end of the day, which is evidence of the artist’s attempt to let the viewer understand his state of mind. Though the scale of The Scream is not significantly large, merely 36”x29”, the impact it creates when one faces this painting is quiet overwhelming. Standing at eyelevel with the figure in the foreground, Munch manages to captivate the observer making them experience the pain and agony of the nature that the foreground figure is bearing. Looking at the actual painting, one can easily notice the rough textures on the cardboard, a record of the artist’s tension while applying brush strokes. The original Norwegian title “Skrik”, which sounds more like the English word “shriek”, only reinforces the cry, panic and horror one can feel by merely glancing at this image.

This painting could have been inspired by his failed romance with Milly Ihlen Thaulow who was married to Captain Carl Thaulow. All elements in this painting seem to symbolize the emotional imbalances that Munch was going through. To represent the anger and anxieties he was experiencing, he used clashing colours of dark blue, red, orange and green misbalancing the composition to recreate the tension and angst he experienced. In no earlier painting did he use colours that were this harsh. To highlight the confusion and his mixed emotions he deliberately combines his medium of oil paint, casein, gouache, pastel, charcoal and pencil in a disorderly way. Other than the two uniformed and calm figures in the background, the painting gives an illusion of a simmering atmosphere reflecting the psychological instability of the artist. Taking into account that Munch was from the same time period as Freud, he might have been inspired by Freud’s “talking cure” theory, where Freud indicates that people can ease their psychological difficulties solely by expressing themselves to others. Perhaps Munch’s idea of “talking” was not necessarily through verbal communication, but as seen in The Scream, Munch communicates clearly to the viewer about his emotional mindset. This may be why The Scream represents a unique and original imagery that is remarkably different in the history of modern art.