Creator story
Surprising fact
Munch described the origin of The Scream as a walk at sunset when the sky turned blood-red and he sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.
Source: Wikipedia / WikimediaSymbolism
Edvard Munch
Edvard Munch (1863–1944) was the Norwegian pioneer of Expressionism, painting raw anxiety, love and death. The Scream has become a universal image of modern dread.
Munch turned inner emotion into visible form, becoming a direct forerunner of German Expressionism.
- Painted several versions of The Scream; two were famously stolen and later recovered.
- Drew on personal grief — his mother and sister died young — to paint love, illness and death.
- His emotional, distorted style made him a founding father of Expressionism.
Key works
A key work by Edvard Munch
These works make it easiest to see how the artist changed form, content, and the very way art could exist in culture.
1893
The Scream
The Scream is an art composition created by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch in 1893. The Norwegian name of the piece is Skrik ('Scream'), and the German title under which it was first exhibited is Der Schrei der Natur.