Description of the picture:
Scream – Edward Munch. 1893. Oil on cardboard, tempera, pastel. 91×73.5
Pattern of expressionism, picture ""Scream"", like its many options, it is still one of the most mysterious masterpieces of world painting. Many critics believe that the plot of the picture is the fruit of a sick imagination of a mentally unhealthy person. Someone sees in the work a premonition of an environmental disaster, someone solves the question of which particular mummy inspired the author to this work. Behind all the philosophies, the main thing disappears – the emotions that this picture evokes, the atmosphere that it conveys and the idea that each viewer can formulate for himself.
What did the author portray? What is the meaning he put into his controversial work? What did you want to say to the world? The answers to these questions may be different, but they all agree on one common opinion – ""scream"" makes the viewer plunge into difficult thoughts about himself and modern life.
Picture analysis ""Scream""
A red, fiery hot sky was covered by a cold fjord, which, in turn, gives rise to a fantastic shadow, similar to a kind of sea monster. The tension distorted the space, the lines broke, the colors do not match, the perspective is destroyed.
Only the bridge on which the heroes of the picture stand is indestructibly even. It is opposed to the chaos into which the world plunges. A bridge is a barrier separating a person from nature. Protected by civilization, people have forgotten how to feel, see and hear. Two indifferent figures in the distance, in no way reacting to what is happening around, only emphasize the tragedy of the plot.
The figure of a desperately screaming person placed in the center of the composition attracts the attention of the viewer in the first place. Despair and horror, bordering on insanity, are read on a face impersonal to a primitive. The author managed to convey the most powerful human emotions with stingy means. In the eyes of suffering, a wide open mouth makes the scream itself piercing and really tangible. Raised hands covering the ears indicate a person’s reflex desire to run away from himself, to stop this attack of fear and hopelessness.
The loneliness of the protagonist, his fragility and vulnerability, fill all the work with special tragedy and energy.
The author uses a complex technique, using oil paints and tempera in one work. At the same time, the coloring of the work is simple, even stingy. In fact, two colors – red and blue, as well as a mixture of these two colors – and create all the work. Intricate, unrealistic bends of lines in the image of the central figure and nature fill the composition with energy and drama.
The viewer decides for himself the question: what is primary in the work – a cry or deformation. What is the basis of work? Perhaps despair and horror manifested in a scream and gave rise to a deformation around, responding to human emotions, nature reacts in a similar way. You can also see in the deformation ""scream"".
Historical information about the painting
It is surprising that this work of Munch was stolen several times by attackers. And it’s not so much the colossal cost ""Scream"". The point is the unique and inexplicable impact of this work on the viewer. The picture is emotionally saturated and can cause strong emotions. On the other hand, in the most unknown way, having created his masterpiece at the very end of the 19th century, the author was able to predict the tragedy and abundance of catastrophes of the twentieth century.
I must add that it was this work that inspired many filmmakers and screenwriters to create films of all kinds. However, none of the films has come close in terms of tragedy and emotionality to the masterpiece of Edward Munch."