Edvard Munch (1863-1944)
"The Scream"
Edvard Munch was an expressionist artist who was born in 1863 and died in 1944. His family
was not poor, as his father was a doctor and also served in the army, although they were
well off, the family suffered from tuberculosis. Edvard's health was not good as a boy and he
often couldn't attend school, he felt lonely and isolated, it was during this time when he
developed his artistic imagination. When he reached the age of five his mother died, age six
when his sister, Sophie, died and when he was a teenager his brother and father also died,
an of tuberculosis. He felt pain, devastation, distress and was heartbroken. This made his
focus on his art, as if he had a purpose to tell everyone about his family.
In the foreground of the painting shows a figure standing slightly off centre, to the right, on
a wooden bridge, holding his ears and screaming. In the background there are two figures
that seem to be walking towards the screaming man. Also in the background there is a
beach with two small boats on the sand. Surrounding the beach are hills and a river which
are merged together. Above the hills is a fiery sky. I think the story of the painting is about a
man who Is lonely in life that he doesn't fit in, he is isolated and he is different from
everyone else.
The focal point of the picture is the man's oddly shaped head as it is a pale yellow colour
against dark browns and blues. It is shaped like an alien's head; I think this is because the
man feels alien and different from the world. The artist has used a range of different colours
In the painting which create impact because of the contrast between neighbouring colours.
The sky is painted fiery reds, oranges and yellows which suggest passion, love and
happiness, I think Edvard Munch painted these colours in the sky because those are the
feelings that he used to feel, that he is looking back on the memories. The river and hills are
painted with deep swirling blues. These colours suggest sadness and melancholy. I think the
artist had used these colours for the river because it is as if the figure is looking down at the
sad times he has had in the past. The figure's head is sickly pale yellow and lime green
colours which suggest illness. The man's cloak is black which suggests death. There is lots of
tonal contrast in the picture as there are large dark areas in the bridge and river but for the
sky and beach it Is light.
In the painting the lines are curved and swirling for the sky, hills and river. I think these lines
are this way because the man feels as if the world is swirling and he can't concentrate.
These lines also create movement. There are also straight lines in the picture, used for the
wooden bridge in the foreground. They are used to create a sense of scale by coming to a
point; this makes it look far away. The artist has used loose and wavy brush strokes for this
picture, these are used because they show lots of emotion and suit the idea of the painting
far better than lots of detail and small neat brushstrokes as the artist wanted to get his
feelings to come across in his work, this also tells us that the artist worked quickly whilst he
pained this picture. The style of the painting is expressive because the colours are painted in
an unusual way, they have meaning.
I like this painting because it has such a depth of meaning and also because of the way that
colour and brushstrokes are used. Although I also dislike the picture because it makes me
feel sad for the figure and because it makes me wonder how I would feel in his position.
I think this painting influenced and inspired other artists because it was the first of its kind
and because it showed much more emotion and expressed feelings more than a realistic
painting.
What this picture shows you about life and death is that death can have a devastating effect
on people especially if there is a lot of dead people in your family during a short period of
time.