The Scream Distinctively Visual

Edvard Munch was a Norwegian artist from the late 1800s who was best known for his emotion evoking pieces of art such as The Scream and The Sick Child. The Scream was a compelling piece of art made in 1893 during the post-impressionism period, which was a transitional phase in art history, prior to the expressionist era. During this period, artists attempted to make the sole focus of their art about their inner emotions as opposed to the realist era, in which it was a trend to display art in a realistic sense, without adding personal feeling. The Scream is one of the most famous pieces of art today, due to its ability to elicit a myriad of visceral emotions from the viewers. One of they key elements of the painting that resonates with myself
The linear aspects provide a chaotic sense in regards Munch’s continuous use of repeated parallel lines to define the main objects. One peculiar linear aspect is the bold diagonal of the railing. Although it is drawn slightly diagonal, adding to the sense of chaos, it also provides a sense of stability due to it being the only straight element amidst the rest of the swirled lines drawn in the rest of the piece, which therefore creates a grounding
Munch inscribes “[he] was walking down the road with two friends when the sun set; suddenly, the sky turned as red as blood. [he] stopped and leaned against the fence, feeling unspeakably tired. Tongues of fire and blood stretched over the bluish black fjord. [His] friends went on walking, while [he] lagged behind, shivering with fear. Then [he] heard the enormous infinite scream of nature.” Through Munch’s inscription, it can be assumed that the terrorized figure is a depiction of Munch himself, and the look of anguish shown through the figure is his inner sense of crisis and mental distress in that moment caused by the visceral scream of nature. Munch suffered from multiple mental illnesses and bared a heap of emotional distress after the death of his sister. The purpose of his art was to release his grief and to unveil the despair he held within. He uses the figure to represent himself in ways he was not able to display in reality. Taking on this style of art where the main subjects are symbols of personal emotion is what ignited the start of the expressionism