Munch wrote comments on ‘The Scream’
COPENHAGEN: Norway’s National Museum has uncovered the secret behind an inscription on Edvard Munch’s original painting of The Scream, one of the most famous artworks in the world.
Someone wrote in Norwegian ‘‘Can only have been painted by a madman!’’ in pencil on the top left corner of the famed canvas, which was completed in 1893.
‘‘It is easy to imagine an indignant viewer, when faced with The Scream, taking a pencil and expressing their opinion on both the artwork and its creator. But that was not the case,’’ the National Museum wrote on its website yesterday.
Instead, new analyses using infrared technology indicate Munch himself wrote the words.
During conservation works after the museum closed, the painting was examined extensively in preparation for the reopening in 2022.
Researchers said they had established beyond doubt that the handwriting matched that of the artist.
Munch painted four versions of The Scream.