Most people have seen "Scream", a famous painting by Edward Munch. Looking at the bloody red sky and a man in agony for decades can cause the observer a feeling of anxiety and discomfort, but scientists now claim that there is another explanation for this.
Edward Munch's "Scream" is not really one painting. There are actually four works found in various museums and private collections.
The picture shows a horrified, somewhat demonic figure standing on a bridge opposite the blood-red sky. The work has become a symbol of modern man's anxiety and mental pain, misunderstanding, emptiness ... The original name that Munch gave him is "The Cry of Nature", and the picture should symbolize a man who is overwhelmed by the feeling of existential fear and anxiety.
An endless scream that passes through nature
"Scream" is one of the world's most recognizable works of art and is considered the "Mona Lisa of the new age." All four versions of the painting measure 91 × 73.5 centimeters and were made using the pastel art technique in the period from 1893 to 1910.
Munch himself described the origin of this work in the following words:
“I was walking with friends, the sun was setting, the sky was turning blood red. Suddenly I felt exhausted, I stopped and leaned against the fence - I saw blood and flaming tongues above the blue-black fjord and the city. My friends kept walking, and I stayed, trembling with restlessness, and I felt an endless scream as it passed through nature. ”
More than a picture ?!
Earlier, it was believed that the painter wanted to show a mental illness, a state of deep anxiety, but the theory from 2004 states as a possibility that Munch was inspired by something "tangible".
Namely, the landscape in the background of the picture actually exists! It is Oslofjord, seen from a hill not far from Oslo. The eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in Indonesia in 1883 colored the sky of that part of Norway with pearlescent and red colors, and Munk himself wrote in his diary that "the sky became blood red".
Clouds, also known as polar stratospheric clouds, occur in Norway during periods of prolonged and intense cold. They are recognizable by their intense colors and shades. A volcanic eruption would not change their shape, but it would change color, so the sky above Oslo could look like a vortex of blood-red shades which sometimes resemble oil slicks in the sky, and sometimes the spill of blood. A volcanic eruption changes the color of clouds, but does not change their shape.
One witness to this phenomenon wrote at the time that the clouds "were so beautiful that you could believe you were in another world."
If this theory is true, Munch later transferred the feelings and scenes he saw to his work.
Targeted by thieves
"Scream" has been targeted by thieves several times. The first theft was in 1994, when the original was stolen from Oslo, but the painting was soon returned. In 2004, the painting was stolen again, this time from the Munch Museum, and was found only in 2006. After a successful restoration, the painting has been in the museum's permanent exhibition since May 2008, but has been irreversibly damaged due to long storage in inadequate conditions.
This painting ranks 10th on the list of most expensive paintings in history. At the auction on May 2, 2012, the version that is now in private ownership reached a value of close to 120 million dollars.
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I don't understand much about this kind of art, but I think that the painting is overestimated, there are more beautiful paintings that are worth much less