THE MAGIC OF MUNCH

The most thrilling moment on our behind-the-scenes visit to the new Munch Museum was not seeing The Scream itself but the conservators’ studio where Kasper Koch, head of conservation, gestured casually to a canvas laid out like a patient on a white table while it received some TLC. This was one of Munch’s “Vampire” paintings, looking oddly defenceless deprived of its frame and upright orientation. I was impressed that this private and precious space had been opened up specially for our group – a measure of the level of privilege accorded to Viking guests.

Of course, we would have felt short-changed if we hadn’t seen The Scream. In fact, the museum displays three iterations of Munch’s most famous work: crayon, tempera and oil, and lithograph. They appear in subdued lighting, one at a time, an hour at a time, for just two hours each a day to protect them from light damage. Otherwise, they are behind a sliding screen.

The display schedule is kept secret so museum visitors won’t all turn up at the same time to see the most famous of the motifs: the one in tempera and oil (which was stolen and later recovered in 1994). By luck, our visit coincided with the display of this version.

On his daily business Kasper has hurried past

The Scream 1,000 times and admits he sometimes takes it for granted.

“But in the conservators’ studio, the magic never disappears,” he said. “People working on paintings worth £40 million – they get used to that. But what they don’t get used to is the magic.”

The guided tour lasts three and a half hours and includes a snack in the café.

iLost and found: the tempura and oil version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream, which was stolen and later recovered in 1994 is on at the Courtauld Gallery (courtauld.ac.uk) until Sept 4