The Scream Of Nature
The original German title given to the work by Munch was Der Schrei der Natur (The Scream of Nature).
In a note in his diary Munch described his inspiration for the image thus:
“I was walking along a path with two friends—the sun was setting—suddenly the sky turned blood red—I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence—there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city—my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety—and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.”
—Edvard Munch
‘Tis well, sometimes, to live with an icon awhile before coming to know its creator’s sense of it … I always took Munch’s intent for a purely human, introspective psychology and would never have guessed at such externalization.
Not that there’s a direct consonance (especially not of color), but this context-less viewing put me in mind of another work of art featuring another silent scream; this time from one who — given epidernal clues — I take as Elphaba, and attended not by the artist as protagonist, but conjured by his friend … https://mainecourse.com/pages/markqdream.htm
Comment by el Kib — December 26, 2006 @ 9:36 pm
Me too, and the reality of his vision gave me the willies.
Comment by michael — December 27, 2006 @ 7:21 am
Why was Munch’s art was so grim? Well, according to Ask Art,
Edvard Munch’s … father was a doctor who treated Kristiana’s poor; he was a stern, devout man who moved his family to Kristiana when Edvard was a baby. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was five. His father became melancholy and reclusive, spending days and evenings in his own room in prayer. Munch himself was often ill. His elder sister, Sophie, died of tuberculosis when she was fifteen…
Comment by rakkity — December 27, 2006 @ 12:21 pm