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The mystery of The Scream


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The mystery of The Scream

Mar 18, 2005

Edvard Munch's masterpiece, The Scream, has become a world icon of human anxiety, appearing on everything from popular t-shirts to blowup dolls, and causing endless debate among art experts.

But what exactly is the surreal figure doing in the painting, with hands pressed to its head and open mouth: Screaming, or hearing a scream?

While the general public seems certain, connoisseurs disagree.

Once again interest has been stimulated in the Norwegian master's works with the theft of three more Munchs in Norway - seven months after The Scream and another masterpiece, Madonna, were stolen from an Oslo museum.

The latest works, a water colour and two prints, were recovered by police, less than a day after they were stolen, and five young suspects are being held in jail pending indictment and trial.

Gunmen took a version of The Scream, as well as Madonna, from the Munch Museum in Oslo in August and those paintings have yet to be recovered.

There are four versions of The Scream, one of the world's most recognised painted images, showing an anguished figure against a surrealistic reddish sky.

The stolen version was painted in 1893 as part of Munch's Frieze of Life series in which sickness, death, anxiety and love are central themes.

The painter, who died in 1944 at age 81, could not have envisioned the popularity of the haunted figure that has appeared on clothes, inflatable figures and even dinner plates.

Even opponents to the re-election of US President George Bush in the 2004 presidential campaign used it on t-shirts, with the words Bush Again?

Most believe the icon of anxiety is screaming.

Or is it? It could just as well be hearing a scream.

In his own writings about the painting, Munch said he was walking with friends when the sky turned blood red and that "I stood there trembling with anxiety - and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature."

Morten Zondag, a Munch expert with Blomqvist art house and auctioneers in Oslo, said that seems to make sense.

"If you look at the texts, you see it is a scream from nature," he said. "I would think it portrays a scream from nature, but that this person or thing is a personification of that scream."

Gunnar Soerensen, director of the Munch Museum in Oslo, was less certain.

"It could be a scream in nature or a person screaming," he said. "It is a question of interpretation."

Soerensen said experts know the place in Oslo which provided the backdrop for the painting, and there was certainly screaming there at the time: The bellows from a nearby slaughterhouse or the cries of patients at a psychiatric asylum, or both.

"The point is that he managed to paint a sound," Soerensen said in a telephone interview. "It is about a modern person's anxiety."

Munch worked in Germany as well as his native Norway, and his emotionally charged style was of great importance in the birth of the 20th century Expressionist movement.

Hans-Martin Frydenberg Flaaten, whose University of Oslo thesis was on The Scream, said: "Everyone sees it in their own way, and that causes debate. I think that was part of the point."

Flaaten said the figure's hands do appear to be covering its ears, shielding them from a scream. However, it could also be clutching its head, a classic gesture of a scream.

Like Zondag, Flaaten said he sees it mostly as a scream in nature, with the figure personifying the scream.

He believes the important thing to Munch was trying to paint a sound, an idea that fascinated his circle of artists and writers, who also tried to find ways to hear colours.

Soerensen, the Munch Museum director, said the artist could have been inspired by many sights and sounds, which he combined into one painting.

"It has become an icon. It is shockingly easy to understand," said Soerensen. "Is he screaming, or is he hearing a scream?" the expert continues. "Does it matter?"

munch.scream

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i love munch and this painting especially. having said that...

But what exactly is the surreal figure doing in the painting, with hands pressed to its head and open mouth: Screaming, or hearing a scream?

in art class i used markers to draw a kneeling figure in front of the dude in the painting. the professor wasn't amused (use your imaginations). :)

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i knew it! :lol: you're one of those normal people who don't like being scared. :) (i've loved creepy things and being scared since i was a little kid...prolly due to my horrendous childhood). btw, i still read HP Lovecraft before bed, when i can (makes for interesting dreams).

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I'm not normal. I never get scared. That pic gives me the creeps though. Not exactly scared...

I grew up in a house in the country side. No houses aound. I had to walk in the dark since I was really small so I really don't get scared easily.

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I'm not normal. I never get scared. That pic gives me the creeps though. Not exactly scared...

I grew up in a house in the country side. No houses aound. I had to walk in the dark since I was really small so I really don't get scared easily.

oh wow...i envy you (i always wanted to be isolated and to have something like you desribed in my life; i only read about it).

my dad used to ask me (when not frightened of whatever) 'are you crazy or just plain stupid?' but he said it in an admiring way (it wasn't a dis--he just couldn't get his head around some of the things about which i was fearless like riding the subways alone at 4AM when i was 11).

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About five years ago I won a bet by going to the cemetery at midnight and staying there for half an hour. Keep in mind that Orthodox cemeteries are really scary. They look nothing like the catholic ones.

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i love cemeteries. the first time i tripped in one, it was a Greek orthodox one in queens (NY). this might be different from really Greek Greek orthodox cemeteries; dunno. i've always wanted to see ghosts as well (i would love it if Peter came back to visit me).

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i know, they always go to people who don't want them. bastards! :lol:

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oh yeah, definitely but the thing that worries me is that houdini made the same promise to his wife and as far as we know, he din't make it (he had way more death/supernatural cred than we do put together) :lol:

but i really wanna do it. and i wanna see my dad and Peter and maybe john lennon so i could berate him for ever moving to NYC... oh and brian jones, definitely. :) (coincidence department: right now, alabama 3/larry love is singing 'you got a morbid preoccupation...' from 'don't dig any deeper')) :lol:

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  • 4 weeks later...

Oslo police arrest man in Scream theft

OSLO: Police have arrested and charged a man suspected of links to the 2004 theft of the iconic painting The Scream and have expressed hope of recovering the 1893 masterpiece by Norwegian painter Edvard Munch.

more here........

http://stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3243405a1860,00.html

post-41-1113260140.jpg

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i hope they get it back asap.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Third Scream suspect is charged

The Scream is one of the world's most recognisable paintings

Norwegian police have arrested and charged a third man over the theft of Edvard Munch's painting The Scream.

more here........

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4476095.stm

post-41-1114311778.jpg

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