The Scream, Nymphs And Satyr, By Edvard Munch

It’s amazing how many ways one person can express themselves. It’s equally amazing when that expression is put into a form of art. Art truly changes the world around us and can open our minds to how we view things, it might also make us feel some type of emotion or way about a subject. Art can be inspiring and beautiful, but just as much depressing and dark, it’s always interesting to see both elements in one piece of art. One art that expresses dark elements is “The Scream” by Edvard Munch, although most wouldn’t call “The Scream” beautiful, the “Nymphs and Satyr” by Adolphe Bouguereau is a stunning art piece that uniquely shows an element of dark beauty. Whereas “The Scream” and “Nymphs and Satyr” are similar as they are from the 19th century
While the 19th century produced much influential art, “The Scream" is one that is still significant today for its expressionistic, original aspects and background story. Edvard Munch painted “The Scream” 1893 in France to capture the emotion of a real experience of his on a bridge where he was struck with intense emotion, as you can see the figure portraying in the painting after being left by his two friends shown in the back of the painting. This painting is part of a larger art collection series that Edvard Munch called "the frieze of life" (Totally History, 2012). This art collection of Munch’s depicted love, death and angst-everything he was experiencing at the time. Despite the success of his art collection. Much only found brief happiness in a life otherwise colored by excessive drinking, family misfortune, and mental distress (Munch, 2016). It is often not known that “The Scream” is a series of 4 paintings. The first painting is the pastel on cardboard, the second version, being the most recognizable, is an oil, tempera, pastel on cardboard, there was a second pastel on cardboard made in 1895, and in 1910 a final tempera on cardboard version was made of “The Scream”. In 1895 the pastel on cardboard version of the painting was sold for a record of 120
The painting portrays four young, beautiful, playful, nymphs teasing a satyr by pulling him into a pond they were assumingly bathing in as “one nymph waves behind to three other nymphs in the distance, perhaps beckoning them to come and play with the satyr as well.”(ARC,2018) .Nymphs are from Greek mythology where they are known as minor deities who protect the different elements of nature such as streams, mountains, and meadows. Satyrs, their male counterparts, also from Greek mythology but having the face and torso of a man, tail and ears of a horse, and feet of a goat are known for being lustful and fertile creatures who can’t swim. This painting captures movement in a way you can feel the pull of the teasing nymphs and the lean of the satyr as one foot is already in the water while still being intrigued by their beauty. This oil painting is so attentive it “is nearly photogenic in it refined technique and attention to detail” (Fichner-Rathus, 2013) you can see the grip of the nymph on the satyrs’ bicep, the contour of the satyrs’ and nymphs’ muscles, also the blades of grass, and where the water and starts. The great patience and “his careful approach to his work meant he was able to show us the female human form in such a way that was both pleasing and accurately rendered.” (William...org, n.d.). In 1901-1942 the painting was bought and was