The scream by Edvard Munch, 1893

Edvard Munch born on the 12 Dec 1863, was a Norwegian painter and printmaker and one of his most known work was “The Scream”. The Scream was in four versions, 2 paintings and 2 pastels. Edvard munch describes the idea of the painting in his own words, "I was walking along a path with two friends - the sun was setting - suddenly the sky turned blood red - I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence - there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city - my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety - and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature " (Nice 22.01.1892).

The work of Munch, The scream painting has become an icon for neurosis and fear, the red sky in the painting connotes blood and fear, also the figure in the painting is almost like a ghost. The figure became an icon used for many things such as birthday cards, key ring, postcards ant etc., and also a reference to the film “Scream”. The reproduction of the painting was used to put across different meanings of the image, for example the painting might of showed stress or fear but later on when the painting was used for different purposes, it started to show different meanings and give different feelings towards the viewer, so instead of fear it denoted humour.

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Reference: (Nice 22.01.1892)