The Scream still makes lots of noise
In Norway, Munch’s famed visage is as moving as ever
It has appeared on everything from inflatable dolls to iPad wallpapers and has influenced everyone from Andy Warhol to The Simpsons. It has been the object of at least two highly publicized thefts — and it was sold for a whopping $120 million at a New York Sotheby’s auction in 2012.
Norwegian artist Edvard Munch’s Skrik, or The Scream as it’s known in English, is one of the most recognizable paintings in the world.
“Its recognition breeds more recognition,” says Torunn Myra, education co-ordinator at the Bergen Art Museum, which has a lithographed version of the famous work where we see just the face and hands surrounding a stark face instead of swirls of sea and sky.
When face to face with the painting at the National Gallery in Oslo, which owns the most celebrated 1893 version in tempera on cardboard, one realizes just what a timeless and universal representation of human anguish it is. The eddying colours amplify the angst of the mummified, androgynous figure in black. The painting may look like child’s play to some, and in his day Munch was often criticized for presenting works that looked unfinished, but anyone who’s tried to copy it will vouch for how hard it is to reproduce its strokes and textures.
The Scream goes through periodic conservation treatments as it’s one of the National Gallery’s most prized possessions. Visitors flock to see Munch’s Frieze of Life section, a permanent exhibition in the museum.
But security is tight since it was stolen in 1994 on the opening day of the Lillehammer Olympics. The break-in set off the alarm, but it was ignored, which led the burglars to leave an audacious note: “Thanks for the poor security.” The painting was later found through an undercover operation mounted jointly by the Norwegian and British police worthy of a James Bond thriller.
The1910 oil-on-board version of the painting was stolen in 2004, this time from Oslo’s Munch Museum, a beautiful building in glass that houses more than half of all the artist’s paintings. It was recovered in 2006. The painting had suffered water damage in a lower corner, but it’s nearly impossible to tell now unless one is looking for it. In terms of composition, this version is almost identical to the National Gallery’s, but the colours in the painting invest it with a slightly different feel. There’s a lot more green, including on the face, which changes its emotional impact.
The eyes look vacant rather than petrified. It’s this painting that offers the most substance to theories that the Peruvian mummy in the Musée de l’Homme in Paris inspired the bald figure with hollow cheeks.
More than 120 years after it was first painted, The Scream continues to make noise. Since 2013, Norwegian comics illustrator Steffen Kverneland’s hit graphic novel Munch, the cover art of which spins off The Scream, has been adding a few decibels. The book is a thoroughly fun account of Munch’s life and throws much light on The Scream back story without the stuffiness of art history. It’s already available in several languages, including French, and the English translation is expected to be out in 2016.