Words by Edvard Munch in tiny letters in the most famous version of "The Scream," The Art Newspaper reports.
Can we be sure that the artist wrote these words? Mai Britt Guleng, the curator of Old Masters and modern paintings at the National Museum of Norway, says yes. First, the handwriting matches up to other samples of Munch's handwriting. Second, the writing is tiny:
“Had this been an act of vandalism by another person, the size of the letters would probably have been larger and the whole text more striking when you stand in front of the work."
Third — though I think this is a fact that could cut either way — the words are not painted over.
“There has been strangely little attention to the inscription.... some researchers have taken it for granted that it was written by Munch, but they haven’t discussed why and when. From 2008 it has been generally accepted that the writing was made by another person, without any discussion at all."
Guleng notes that Munch heard criticism of his work and was "confronted about his mental health" on one occasion. Why would that motivate him to write on his own painting? That's more interesting than the question whether he or some vandal wrote it. Let's assume Munch wrote it. Why did he write it? Don't assume he was judging and doubting himself. There are other possibilities: he was satirizing his critics, he was inviting us to contemplate whether only madmen paint like that, or he was celebrating himself as a madman.
***
This is the 9th post with the tag "The Scream."
The oldest post with the tag is "Shimmering shining shriek/scream" from April 2005. Excerpt:
Later, I watched the DVD of "After Hours"...
Paul [looking at Kiki's papier maché sculpture]: It reminds me of that Edvard Munch painting. What is it? "The Shriek"?
Kiki: "The Scream."
Googling for a picture for "The Scream," to illustrate this post [that was already] about how things go together, I hit a Reuters story from one hour ago, saying they've just today arrested a man for the theft of "The Scream." (The painting was stolen last August.) I love that feeling of things seeming to converge. I know it's only an illusion.
Posts
22 comments:
Sketch by one of Munch's neighbors,
https://i.pinimg.com/564x/3c/11/04/3c1104153bce28346f26ef8df73bad8b.jpg
Four versions? I had no idea. How much do they differ? Who has them, and have they been exhibited together?
Let's assume Munch wrote it. Why did he write it? Don't assume he was judging and doubting himself. There are other possibilities: he was satirizing his critics, he was inviting us to contemplate whether only madmen paint like that, or he was celebrating himself as a madman.
That's how I would read it. It's like the South Park disclaimer that the show "should not be watched by anyone."
I liked Gary Larson's take:
"Edvard, you veirdo, you!"
The word madman is sexist and judgmental and unnecessarily categorical and exclusionary of all other traits. I insist it not be used. It’s a small ask.
He's a white artist, and disolaying his work or praising it is racist.
My understanding is that Munch was aware that he was mentally ill. I have no information regarding his feelings about being mentally ill, though.
Also, it's kind of a shame that "The Scream" sucked all the oxygen out of the room. I'm much more taken with the cover of "Authentic Christianity," which seems to manage to show the entirety of the human reaction to the crucifixion, as the overleaf notes.
That “Scream” animation by Chip Ahoy from June 11, 2009 should be on Tik Tok. The kids could imitate and it would be a meme, if that’s how you say it. A Scream Meme.
There is another Munch quotation on the site that you linked to: "Ligetil jeg var 45 år skreg folk 'fy fan' bare de så dem." (Until I was 45, people screamed 'bloody hell' the moment they saw them [the paintings].) His intention may have been to confront the public with their own prejudices ( = the satirizing option).
Aren't we all a little bit insane?
Munch was very introverted and wrote about how he was experiencing the world. He painted many of those experiences, included The Scream of which he wrote:
"One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord—the sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red. I sensed a scream passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The color shrieked. This became The Scream."
I often walk past the area where Munch had his Scream experience. I did so yesterday. Wasn't overwhelmed by a great wave of existential angst. Just enjoyed one of the best vistas in Oslo.
Four versions? I had no idea. How much do they differ? Who has them, and have they been exhibited together?
Munch often painted multiple versions of his paintings plus did lithographs of the same composition. You can see the different versions of The Scream on the Wikipedia page.
There are two versions the are usually shown to the public here in Oslo. The first from 1893 is in the National Gallery. The second from 1910 is in the Munch Museum. The Munch Museum also owns another version, that is not considered to be of the same quality as the above two. There's some speculation that it was a draft version. There's a third high quality version of the Scream that was in the private collection of a wealthy Norwegian until it was sold in 2012 for $120 Million.
I've been taking tourists to see The Scream for over 30 years. Most are a bit disappointed by the painting and prefer many of other Munch's other paintings. I concur.
:O
If weren't all crazy we would go insane
-JB
John Henry
MoMA has a Munch Scream, but I can't remember if it's a lithograph...don't think so. It really is a very powerful and fucked up painting
One copy was stolen and quickly recovered in Norway, during the Lillehammer Olympics.
The funny part of the theft is that the thief was a 2-time Munch thief: he'd stolen a different Munch painting years earlier and done time for it. What's the definition of insanity again?
And then apparently another copy of the painting was stolen in 2004. This must be the most stolen painting ever, helped in the stats by having 4 copies of it around.
This explanation probably makes the most sense.
NY Post:
'...The mysterious origins of the phrase help complete a sad picture: Munch created the painting, which has now become a universal symbol for mortal anxiety, just after his sister Laura was committed to an asylum with bipolar disorder.
Though the screaming figure doesn’t look like him, it’s believed to be influenced by his own experience of observing a blood-red sky after being abandoned by two companions, seen in the background. In that moment, he was hit by a “gust of melancholy,” according to his diary.
After Munch unveiled the painting, reactions centered on his own mental health, rather than the painting itself.
The experts said it stands to reason that Munch wrote the “madman” inscription after struggling with the many critical reviews at the time. In 1908, he suffered a mental breakdown.
“It’s a combination of being ironic, but also showing his vulnerability,” Guleng [Mai Britt Guleng, curator of old masters and modern paintings at Norway’s National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design] told the Guardian. “He is actually taking this very seriously and he is hurt because there is a history of illness in his family, and he was very anxious, but he showed himself be marked by it.”'
https://nypost.com/2021/02/22/edvard-munch-wrote-hidden-madman-message-on-the-scream/
I wonder how many shrinks have a copy of this painting prominently displayed in their office (like a barber pole).
The Scream is one of the most parodied and memed artworks. Another is Hokusai's The Great Wave. Maybe the big wave is what's making the guy scream.
Munch had a horrible life. There was something really grim and ugly about Scandinavian and Central European life at the turn of the last century. Things weren't that great in France either, but the artists didn't let it get to them so much.
Jim Carrey's muse?
I don't really care about Munch's inner life. The Scream speaks to all of us who, at one time or another, have been stressed too far. Or ALMOST too far. Or, as Waylon Jenning sang: "I've always been crazy but it's kept me from going insane."
Post a Comment