Impact of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" on Art

Edvard Munch's "The Scream" was painted around the end of the 19th century, and is possibly the first Expressionist painting. The Scream was very different from the art of its time. During this time artists tried to paint realistic paintings. Munch was a tortured soul, and it certainly showed in this painting. Most of his family had died, and he was often plagued by sickness. The Scream was a reflection of what was going on at the time, and what was going on in Munch's own mind
It seemed to me that I could hear the scream. I painted this picture; painted the clouds as real blood. The colors screamed" (Preble 52). Some people, when they look at this painting, only see a person screaming. They see the pretty blend of colors, but don't actually realize what they are looking at. A lone emaciated figure halts on a bridge clutching his ears, his eyes and mouth open wide in a scream of anguish. Behind him a couple (his two "friends") are walking together in the opposite direction. Barely discernible in the swirling motion of a red-blood sunset and deep blue-black fjord, are tiny boats at sea, and the suggestion of town buildings (Preble 53). This painting was definitely the first of its kind, the first Expressionist painting. People say that a picture is worth a thousand words. If that's the case, then "The Scream" is worth a million. It has a message that no other painting of its time had. Edvard Munch was pouring out his soul onto the canvas. What we see here, is a glimpse of what Munch was really like inside. When we really look at the painting, we understand what the artist was feeling at the time, because it captures nothing but human emotion. It creates a similar mood in us for a brief moment. The man screaming in the picture seems to feel like he's going insane, and that the world is getting to be too much for him. The two people walking away from him possibly mean that the man feels left out of everything, or that he doesn't fit in with the rest of the world.