1895, Edvard Munch, The Scream (print version) -- Munch Museum (Oslo)
From the museum label:
There are many versions of Edvard Munch's most famous image in the museum's collection. Three are displayed in this room: a painting, a drawing and a print. None of them can be permanently displayed, so we are showing them in rotation, half an hour at a time. The print appears twice as often as the painting and drawing, because we have several impressions and they are more robust. Munch created every version of The Scream on cardboard or paper, which makes them more fragile than oil paintings on canvas. As well as temperature, humidity and oxygen levels, we have to take most care with the lighting. Over time, light affects colours and breaks down paper and cardboard. At the museum we have extensively researched how much light exposure the different Scream versions can withstand per day. In this way, we are making sure future generations can enjoy and marvel at Munch's powerful work.
The motif probably originated on an evening stroll Munch took with friends in 1891, as the sun was setting over the Oslo fjord. In a long poem in his diary he described how he suddenly stopped, quaking with fear, and felt 'a vast infinite scream passing through nature'. In the years that followed, he repeatedly explored the motif in sketches and writings. The Scream has always been open to endless interpretations. The main character is strangely enigmatic. It belongs to no class or culture, has no specific gender or ethnicity, and is strikingly timeless. Note how Munch places the men in the background on a straight road that leads off into infinity. This only emphasises their distance from the main figure even more. A thing that triggers angst and despair in one person can be insignificant for someone else.
1895, Edvard Munch, The Scream (print version) -- Munch Museum (Oslo)
From the museum label:
There are many versions of Edvard Munch's most famous image in the museum's collection. Three are displayed in this room: a painting, a drawing and a print. None of them can be permanently displayed, so we are showing them in rotation, half an hour at a time. The print appears twice as often as the painting and drawing, because we have several impressions and they are more robust. Munch created every version of The Scream on cardboard or paper, which makes them more fragile than oil paintings on canvas. As well as temperature, humidity and oxygen levels, we have to take most care with the lighting. Over time, light affects colours and breaks down paper and cardboard. At the museum we have extensively researched how much light exposure the different Scream versions can withstand per day. In this way, we are making sure future generations can enjoy and marvel at Munch's powerful work.
The motif probably originated on an evening stroll Munch took with friends in 1891, as the sun was setting over the Oslo fjord. In a long poem in his diary he described how he suddenly stopped, quaking with fear, and felt 'a vast infinite scream passing through nature'. In the years that followed, he repeatedly explored the motif in sketches and writings. The Scream has always been open to endless interpretations. The main character is strangely enigmatic. It belongs to no class or culture, has no specific gender or ethnicity, and is strikingly timeless. Note how Munch places the men in the background on a straight road that leads off into infinity. This only emphasises their distance from the main figure even more. A thing that triggers angst and despair in one person can be insignificant for someone else.