What inspired Edward? Scary facts about Munch's painting "The Scream"

Experts call this painting the second most popular after the unrivaled La Gioconda. Only Leonardo da Vinci left us a legacy of the secret of a smile, but Edvard Munch shared darker emotions. The painting “The Scream” is considered the quintessence of human despair, loneliness, and suffering. A train of real and fictitious tragic stories only reinforces the gloomy aura of the canvas.

Threads stretch from childhood

Indeed, much can be explained by the artist’s childhood. It would be hard to call him happy. Mother of the future Norwegian classic Expressionism died when little Edward was five. The fourteen-year-old teenager experienced the next death even more deeply. His sister died of consumption. Pain, despair, inability to save a loved one - these emotions permeate Munch's childhood memories. They will then fill the artist’s paintings. Will also leave its mark mental disorder- affective insanity.

The history of the painting "Scream"

Munch almost always described events, thoughts and feelings that anticipated the creation of the next painting. There is also very specific information about the writing famous painting. The artist in his diary tells how he was walking with two of his friends at sunset and suddenly the sky, which had turned blood red, seemed to crush him. Munch describes in detail the feeling of almost mortal fatigue that overwhelmed him. It seemed to him at that moment that an endless cry of despair pierced him and surrounding nature. Hence the very first name of the canvas: “The Scream of Nature.”

At the same time, some researchers of the Norwegian master’s work interpret the gesture of the asexual creature depicted on the canvas as protective. So a person covers his ears so as not to hear the strong noise tearing peace of mind. In addition, the effect of the bloody sky that the artist observed could have been a consequence of the eruption. The painting “The Scream” demonstrates that red eerie hue of the sky that was characteristic of Europe from November 1883 to February 1884. All this time, a blanket of volcanic ash hung in the atmosphere.

Description of the masterpiece

The canvas is recognizable all over the world, but if you ask a random museum visitor what it depicts, the answer you will get is reminiscent of a character from the horror film of the same name. By the way, his appearance was borrowed from Munch’s masterpiece, which the filmmakers did not hide.

Let's take a look anyway detailed description paintings "Scream". Its composition is simple and concise. The straight diagonal of the bridge and two realistic figures of men in the distance contrast with the humanoid, smoothly curved figure in the center of the canvas. The surrounding space: the sky, the river - also seem to wriggle and twist. The creature on the canvas can only hardly be called a person, because it most closely resembles a hairless, withered mummy with hollows in the eye sockets and mouth. The creature clutches its head with its long-fingered palms and silently screams. Only now no one reacts to his cry. The figures confidently move away into the distance along the bridge, without feeling despair or horror. Even the eerie sky, as if burning in a bloody fire, is unable to shake their calm.

At the same time, in the manner of writing, the painting “Scream” seems almost like a sketch, furious and careless. But in reality there is no rush at all. Munch created carefully and thoughtfully. He was so carried away by the plot that he created several versions of the canvas.

A little mysticism

As mentioned above, there is an evil trail behind the picture. Some believe that this is some kind of curse. Indeed, several tragic incidents involving the owners of the painting or the unfortunate people who came into direct contact with the painting give rise to unpleasant thoughts.

And if cases of severe depression and mental disorders can still be explained by excessive impressionability, then how to explain the most famous case with a museum employee, it is unclear. A museum employee was tasked with rehanging the painting, but in the process he accidentally dropped it. The curse overtook the victim a week later. An employee was involved in a terrible car accident. The painting “The Scream” did not spare the other poor fellow who could not hold it in his hands. This employee began to suffer from unbearable migraines, which drove the unfortunate man to suicide.

Worldwide fame

But even this not the kindest aura did not extinguish interest in the canvas. On the contrary, all the horrors that were told about the canvas only fueled interest in it.

This fact is clearly confirmed by the auction held in the spring of 2012. It displayed one of the Scream variants. It went away in a record 12 minutes of trading for a record nearly $200 million. The future owner was not deterred by the unenviable fate of the canvas’s previous owners.

In addition, she replicated the image created by Munch. Famous (and not so famous) contemporary artists give out their interpretations, which are recognizable as the painting “The Scream”. The description of the famous screaming creature can be guessed in the already mentioned horror film. The famous father of cartoon star Bart Simpson, Homer Simpson, even appeared in the show.

“Only a madman could write this”- one of the amazed spectators left this inscription right on the picture itself Edvard Munch"Scream."

It is difficult to argue with this statement, especially considering the fact that the painter actually spent about a year in a mental hospital. But I would like to add a little to the words of the expressive critic: indeed, only a crazy person could draw this, but this crazy person was clearly a genius.

No one has ever been able to express so many emotions in a simple image, to put so much meaning into it. Before us is a real icon, only it speaks not about paradise, not about salvation, but about despair, boundless loneliness and complete hopelessness. But in order to understand how Edvard Munch came to his painting, we need to delve a little deeper into the history of his life.

It is perhaps very symbolic that the artist, who had a huge influence on the painting of the twentieth century, was born in a country that was so far from art and was always considered a province of Europe, where the very word “painting” evoked more questions than associations.

Edward's childhood clearly cannot be called happy. His father, Christian Munch, was a military doctor and always earned a little money. The family lived in poverty and moved regularly, changing one house in the slums of Christiania (then provincial town in Norway, and now the capital of Oslo) to the other. Being poor is always bad, but being poor in the 19th century was much worse than it is now. After the novels of F. M. Dostoevsky (by the way, Edvard Munch’s favorite writer), there is no doubt about this.

Illness and death are the first things he sees young talent In my life. When Edward was five years old, his mother died, and his father, who fell into despair, fell into morbid religiosity. After the loss of his wife, it seemed to Christian Munch that death had settled in their home forever. Trying to save the souls of his children, he is in the most bright colors described to them the torments of hell, talking about how important it is to be virtuous in order to earn a place in heaven. But his father’s stories made a completely different impression on the future artist. He was tormented by nightmares, he could not sleep at night, because in a dream all the words of his religious parent came to life, acquiring a visual form. The child, who was not in good health, grew up withdrawn and fearful.

“Illness, madness and death are the three angels that have haunted me since childhood”, the painter later wrote in his personal diary.

Agree that this was a unique vision of the divine trinity.

The only person who tried to calm the unfortunate, frightened boy and gave him much-needed maternal care was his sister Sophie. But it seems that Munch was destined to lose everything that was dear to him. When the artist was fifteen, exactly ten years after the death of his mother, his sister died. Then, probably, his struggle began, which he waged with death with the help of art. The loss of his beloved sister was the basis for his first masterpiece, the painting “The Sick Girl.”

Needless to say, provincial “art connoisseurs” from Norway completely criticized this painting. They called it an unfinished sketch, reproached the author for negligence... Behind all these words, critics missed the main thing: before them was one of the most sensual paintings of its time.

Subsequently, Munch always said that he never strived for a detailed image, but transferred into his paintings only what his eye highlighted, which was truly important. This is exactly what we see on this canvas.

Only the girl’s face stands out, or rather, her eyes. This is the moment of death, when practically nothing remains of reality. It seems that the picture of life has been doused with a solvent and all objects begin to lose shape before turning into nothing. The figure of a woman in black, which is often found in the artist’s works and personifies death, bowed her head in front of the dying woman and is already holding her hand. But the girl is not looking at her, her gaze is directed further. Yes, who, if not Munch, understood: real art is always a look behind the back of death.

And although the Norwegian artist tried to look beyond death, it stubbornly stood before his eyes, trying to draw attention to itself. The death of his older sister served as an impetus for the birth of his talent, but it flourished against the backdrop of another family tragedy. It was then that Munch, who until that moment had been fond of impressionism, came to a completely new style and began to create paintings that brought him immortal fame.

Another of the artist’s sisters, Laura, was placed in a mental hospital, and in 1889 his father died of a stroke. Munch fell into a deep depression, and there was no one left from his family. From that moment on, he was absolutely alone, became a voluntary hermit, withdrew from the world and people. He treated depression alone with a bottle of aquavit. Needless to say, the medicine is very dubious. And although most creators found salvation from their inner demons in love, Edvard Munch was clearly not one of them. For him, love and death were about the same thing.

Already recognized in France and externally beautiful painter enjoyed great success with women. But he himself avoided any long-term romances, thinking that such relationships only brought death closer. It got to the point that during a date, without explaining the reasons, he could get up and leave, and then never again meet with the woman he left.

Suffice it to recall the painting “Maturity,” also known as “Transitional Age.”

In Munch's perception, sexuality is a powerful, but dark and dangerous force for humans. It is no coincidence that the shadow that the girl’s figure casts on the wall looks so unnatural. She's more like a ghost evil spirit. Love is possession by demons, and most of all demons dream of bringing harm to their bodily shell. No one has ever spoken about love like that! The cycle of paintings “Frieze of Life” is dedicated to precisely this feeling. By the way, it was in it that “Scream” was presented. This picture is the final stage of love.

“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 against the fence - I looked at the blood and flames over the bluish-black fjord and the city - my friends moved on, and I stood trembling with excitement, feeling an endless cry piercing nature.”, - this is how Munch described in his diary the feeling that inspired him to create the painting.

But this work was not created in a single burst of inspiration, as many people think. The artist worked on it for a very long time, constantly changing the concept, adding certain details. And he worked for the rest of his life: there are about a hundred versions of “Scream”.

That famous figure of a screaming creature arose from Munch’s impression of an exhibition in an ethnographic museum, where he was most struck by a Peruvian mummy in a fetal position. Her image appears in one of the versions of the painting “Madonna”.

The entire exhibition “Frieze of Life” consisted of four parts: “The Birth of Love” (it ends with “Madonna”); “The Rise and Decline of Love”; “Fear of Life” (this series of paintings ends with “The Scream”); "Death".

The place that Munch describes in his “The Scream” is very real. This is a famous observation point outside the city overlooking the fjord. But few people know about what remains outside the picture. Down below observation deck on the right was an insane asylum where the artist's sister Laura was placed, and on the left was a slaughterhouse. The dying cries of animals and the screams of the mentally ill were often companions to the magnificent, but frightening view of northern nature.

In this picture, all of Munch’s sufferings, all of his fears receive maximum embodiment. Before us is not the figure of a man or a woman, before us is the consequence of love - a soul thrown out into the world. And, finding itself in it, faced with its strength and cruelty, the soul is only capable of screaming, not even screaming, but screaming in horror. After all, there are few exits in life, only three: burning skies or a cliff, and at the bottom of the cliff - a slaughterhouse and a psychiatric hospital.

It seemed that with such a vision of the world, Edvard Munch’s life simply could not be long. But everything happened differently - he lived to be 80 years old. After treatment in psychiatric clinic“gave up” with alcohol and was already much less involved in art, living in absolute solitude in own home in the suburbs of Oslo.

But “Scream” had a very sad fate. Indeed, now it is one of the most expensive and famous paintings in the world. But mass culture always rapes true masterpieces, washing away from them the meaning and the power that the masters put into them. A striking example- "Mona Lisa".

The same thing happened with Scream. He has become the subject of jokes and parodies, and this is understandable: a person always tries to laugh at what he fears most. Only the fear will not go away - it will simply lurk and will definitely overtake the joker at the moment when his entire supply of witticisms has dried up.

The Scream - Edvard Munch. 1893. Cardboard, oil, tempera, pastel. 91x73.5

What did the author depict? What meaning did he put into his controversial work? What did you want to tell the world? The answers to these questions may be different, but everyone will agree on one common opinion - the “scream” forces the viewer to plunge into difficult reflections about himself and modern life.

Analysis of the painting "Scream"

The red, fiery hot sky covered the cold fjord, which, in turn, gives birth to a fantastic shadow, similar to some kind of sea monster. Tension has distorted space, lines are broken, colors are inconsistent, perspective is destroyed.

Only the bridge on which the heroes of the picture stand remains inviolably level. It is opposed to the chaos into which the world is plunging. A bridge is a barrier separating man from nature. Protected by civilization, people have forgotten how to feel, see and hear. Two indifferent figures in the distance, not reacting in any way to what is happening around them, only emphasize the tragedy of the plot.

The figure of a desperately screaming man placed in the center of the composition attracts the viewer's attention first of all. On the face, depersonalized to the point of primitiveness, one can read despair and horror, bordering on madness. The author managed to convey the most powerful human emotions with meager means. There is suffering in the eyes, the wide open mouth makes the cry itself piercing and really palpable. Raised hands covering the ears speak of a person’s reflexive desire to run away from himself, to stop this attack of fear and hopelessness.

The loneliness of the main character, his fragility and vulnerability, fill the entire work with special tragedy and energy.

The author uses complex technology, in one work using and oil paints and tempera. At the same time, the coloring of the work is simple, even stingy. In fact, two colors - red and blue, as well as the mixture of these two colors - create the entire work. Intricate, unrealistic curves of lines in the image central figure and nature fill the composition with energy and drama.

The viewer decides for himself the question: what comes first in the work - screaming or deformation. What is the basis of the work? Perhaps the despair and horror manifested in the scream gave rise to deformation around, responding to human emotions, nature reacts in a similar way. A “scream” can also be seen in the deformation.

Historical information about the painting

The surprising thing is that this work of Munch was stolen several times by thieves. And it's not so much the colossal cost of "Scream". The point is the unique and inexplicable impact of this work on the viewer. The picture is emotionally rich and can evoke strong emotions. On the other hand, in the most unknown way, having created his masterpiece at the very end of the 19th century, the author was able to predict the tragedy and abundance of disasters of the twentieth century.

It should be added that it was this work that inspired many film directors and screenwriters to create films of various kinds. However, none of the films came close in terms of tragedy and emotionality to Edvard Munch’s masterpiece.

On January 23, the art world marks 150 years since the death of Norwegian expressionist artist Edvard Munch. The most famous of his paintings, “The Scream,” was executed in four versions. All canvases in this series are shrouded mystical stories, but the artist’s intention has still not been fully understood.

Munch himself, explaining the idea of ​​the painting, admitted that he depicted a “cry of nature.” "I was walking along the road with friends. The sun was setting. The sky turned blood red. I was overcome with melancholy. I stood dead tired against the backdrop of dark blue. The fjord and the city hung in tongues of fire flame. I fell behind my friends. Trembling with fear, I heard the cry of nature,” these words are engraved by the artist’s hand on the frame framing one of the canvases.

Art critics and historians have interpreted differently what was depicted in the painting. According to one version, the sky could have turned blood red due to the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in 1883. Volcanic ash turned the sky reddish, a phenomenon that could be observed in the eastern United States, Europe and Asia from November 1883 to February 1884. Munch could also observe it.

According to another version, the painting was the result of the artist’s mental disorder. Munch suffered from manic-depressive psychosis, and throughout his life he was tormented by fears and nightmares, depression and loneliness. He tried to drown out his pain with alcohol, drugs and, of course, transferred it to the canvas - four times. “Illness, madness and death are black angels who stood guard over my cradle and accompanied me all my life,” Munch wrote about himself.

Existential horror, piercing and panicky - that’s what is depicted in the picture, art critics say. He is so strong that he literally falls on the viewer, who himself suddenly turns into a figure on foreground covering her head with her hands - to protect herself from a “scream”, real or fictitious.

Some tend to see "Scream" as a prophecy. Thus, co-chairman of the board of directors of Sotheby's auction David Norman, who was lucky enough to sell one of the paintings in the series for $120 million, expressed the opinion that Munch in his works predicted the 20th century with its two world wars, the Holocaust, environmental disasters and nuclear weapons.

There is a belief that all versions of Scream are cursed. Mysticism, according to art historian and Munch specialist Alexander Prufrock, is confirmed real cases. Dozens of people who came into contact with the paintings in one way or another fell ill, quarreled with loved ones, fell into severe depression or died suddenly. All this gave the paintings a bad reputation. One day, a museum employee in Oslo accidentally dropped the painting. After some time, he began to have terrible headaches, the seizures became more severe, and in the end he committed suicide. Museum visitors still look at the painting with caution.

The figure of either a man or a ghost in “Scream” also caused a lot of controversy. In 1978, art critic Robert Rosenblum suggested curiously that the asexual creature in the foreground may have been inspired by the sight of a Peruvian mummy that Munch may have seen at the World's Fair in Paris in 1889. To other commentators, she resembled a skeleton, an embryo, and even a sperm.

Munch's "Scream" is reflected in popular culture. Creator famous mask from the film "Scream" was inspired by the masterpiece of the Norwegian expressionist.

Edvard Munch's famous painting “The Scream” appeared today for the first time before the eyes of Londoners. For a long time the painting by the Norwegian expressionist was in private collection Edvard Munch's fellow countryman, entrepreneur Petter Olsen, whose father was the artist's friend, neighbor and customer. Interestingly, using different artistic technique, Munch wrote four options paintings called "Scream".

Distinctive feature The painting "The Scream", which is presented in London, is the original frame in which the work is placed. The frame was painted by Edvard Munch himself, which is confirmed by the author’s inscription explaining the plot of the painting: “My friends moved on, I was left behind, trembling with anxiety, I felt the great Scream of Nature.” In Oslo, at the Edvard Munch Museum, there are two more versions of “The Scream” - one of them is done in pastel, and the other in oil. The fourth version of the painting is in Norwegian National Museum art, architecture and design. “The Scream”, owned by Olsen, is the first painting in the series, painted in pastel, and differs from the other three paintings in its unusually bright color palette. Edvard Munch's painting "The Scream" embodies human isolation, desperate loneliness, and loss of meaning in life. The tension in the scene is given by the dramatic contrast between the lonely figure in the foreground and the strangers in the distance, who are busy with themselves.

If you want to have high-quality reproduction of a painting by Edvard Munch in your collection, then order a reproduction of the painting “The Scream” on canvas. The unique technology of printing reproductions on canvas conveys original colors, thanks to the use of European quality paints with protection against fading. The canvas, as a basis for the reproduction of Munch's painting "The Scream", will convey the natural structure artistic canvas, and your reproduction will look like a real work of art. All reproductions are issued for a special gallery subframe, which finally gives the reproduction a resemblance to the original work of art. Order a reproduction of an Edvard Munch painting on canvas, and we guarantee you the best color reproduction, cotton canvas and wooden stretcher that professional art galleries use.

Why are they screaming? Moreover, with a distorted face, clutching his head, pinching his ears? From horror, from hopelessness, from despair. This is what Munch wanted to convey in his painting. The distorted figure on it is the embodiment of suffering. He was inspired to paint this picture by the setting sun, which painted the sky bloody colors. The red, fiery sky over the black city gave Munch the feeling of a scream piercing everything around.

It should be added that he depicted screaming in his work more than once (there are other versions of “The Scream”). But nature's cry was actually a reflection of his own inner cry. It all ended with treatment in a clinic (there is evidence that Munch suffered from manic-depressive psychosis).

But as for the bloody sky, he didn’t imagine anything here; there is no metaphor in these words. According to astronomers, the Krakatoa volcano erupted in 1883. For several months, the volcano emitted huge clouds of dust, which caused “bloody” sunsets in Europe.

And there is also an absolutely fantastic version about this picture. Its supporters believe that Munch had a chance to come into contact with extraterrestrial intelligence (apparently, the figure in the picture reminded someone of an alien). These are his impressions of this contact.