The Scream: A Description and Interpretation.

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28/03/03                 English Literature: The Scream               James Hare  

The Scream: A Description and Interpretation

(Non-fiction)

“Disease, insanity and death were the angels which attended my cradle, and since then have followed me throughout my life.”

Norwegian artist Edvard Munch painted The Scream in 1893. It was during the time of the Industrial Revolution, when Western Europe was experiencing great social change in its urbanisation and industrialisation. Throughout the nineteenth century, Norway had become a highly religious country with the Protestant ‘awakening’ and was oppressive in its expectations of strict, puritanical behaviour. Born on the December 12th 1863 in Löten, Norway, he grew up in Oslo (formerly Kristiania) and was well educated in The School of Art and Design in Kristiania, where he studied art for two years. His father, Christian Munch, was a deeply religious military doctor. Edvard’s mother died when he was five years old from tuberculosis. When he was fifteen, his eldest sister Sophie died of the same disease and Edvard himself was often ill. A younger sibling was also diagnosed with a mental illness at a young age. Because of these tragic influences, much of his art was related to illness, death and grief.

The Scream’s central focus is a screaming figure, located in the middle of the foreground of the painting. The screaming figure’s head reaches to almost the midpoint of the painting. He has a long, curvaceous body with minimal detail stretching from the centre of the bottom of the painting, topped by a skull-like head, shaped like an upside-down pear. The bald, rounded head with its vague, chilling eyes, crude nostrils and mouth contorted in a silent shriek. His long hands are clapped to the sides of his head in a perpetual state of despair. The sex of the screaming figure is uncertain but this is perhaps on purpose, as if it is to represent all of humankind rather than a single person.

This core-figure is standing on a wooden walkway, possibly a bridge or a pier, which runs from the bottom right of the painting in the foreground to the left middle ground, where it disappears from view. There is a railing visible on the right side of the walkway, travelling the length of the bridge, wide in the foreground and gets narrower as it shrinks into the distance. Unlike the remainder of the painting, the walkway is very defined and linear with a distinct solid look to it. This part of the painting is devoid of the emotion that is echoed in the rest of the painting. The walkway has an overall imposing air to it and an eerie dominance. From the pastel browns that streak the floor of the walkway, we can infer that the walkway is built out of wood. On the handrail, the vivid sky is reflected, giving the inside of the railing a dark, shadowy feel. I think it is significant to note that although we see the sky reflected by the handrail, no shadow is cast upon the walkway, as logic would dictate.

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At the far end of the walkway are two tall, dark and rather ominous looking figures who appear to be approaching the figure. These figures on the left hand side of the painting in the middle ground are tall and quite indistinct. We can speculate that one is male and the other female from the top hat that the leftmost figure is wearing but essentially they are as much a mystery as the screaming figure. Both characters lack facial detail but appear to be wearing long overcoats. The colours he uses to depict the all the people in the ...

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