The popularity of this face is second only to Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa, extremely brief, unable to see gender and age, but giving people a strong impact, unforgettable at first sight.
Eduard Munch, The Scream, 1893, oil on canvas, 91cm×73.5cm National Gallery of Oslo (Norway)
It is surprising that it was able to express uneasiness and fear in this way more than 120 years ago, and it has not faded in the slightest, and has been cited in various occasions such as movies and parody works.
Edvard Munch (12 December 1863 – 23 January 1944) was a Norwegian expressionist painter and pioneer of modern expressionist painting. Edward Munch's paintings have a strong subjectivity and a sad and repressive mood.
Let's take a look at this picture...
Where is this?
The middle blue streamlined pattern is the river, with a wooden bridge over the river.
At first glance it feels like this, but it doesn't seem right, because in the farther reaches of space there are two boats floating, which could be lakes, bays, or fjords (because Munch was born and raised in Norway).
Even if the painter did not pay attention to the perspective relationship, from the size of the boat, the position of the figure was much higher than the bridge, probably on a high promenade with a railing.
In fact, there is a hill on the outskirts of Oslo that is known as the "Shouting Stage Land".
Munch had a fear of heights, and the panoramic stereoscopic painting unfolding in front of him must have caused him uneasiness.
In the lower left corner of the painting, Munch's signature and year of creation are written in faint handwriting, and the upper part also has illegible pencil words - "Only people with abnormal brains can draw such paintings", but the latter is not Munch's handwriting (so who wrote it?). ）。
There are three people in the painting. The two men walking behind the protagonist are tall, breaking the sloping composition. Both men and the railing are depicted in straight lines, making the curves of the background shake even more and enhancing the effect.
The solid real world contrasts with the gradually dissolving strange world on its outside. Although the protagonist is still in this side of the world for the time being, he has begun to distort from the inside, and he looks like he is about to be sucked into it by that side.
About the work, Munch recounts: I went for a walk with my friends, and suddenly the sky turned blood red. This terrible sight stopped me, "I heard a loud cry that resounded through nature, endlessly."
The main figure in the painting desperately covers his ears, not wanting to hear this shout.
But in general, if you want to reject the outside world, you should close your eyes and mouth. But the figure's eyes are wide open, his nostrils are wide open, and his mouth is so wide open that both cheeks are slumped in, because they resonate strongly with the cry of nature, and they themselves constantly emit inaudible screams.
Or perhaps, the sound that resounds through nature itself is the terrifying cry of the protagonist himself unconsciously.
The red sky, the sea, and the earth all twisted and twisted with this cry, ups and downs, flowing, flying white, meandering, straight to our flesh and spirit.
The "uneasiness of existence" peculiar to modern man rushes to the viewer like a tide. Its performance is so appropriate and ingenious, and it is unbearable, and it is not willing to face it, and perhaps because of this, we will do some "scream puppets" and laugh it off.
The expression we often use: [fear] [fear], is derived from the plagiarism of Munch's "Scream" that people all over the world know.
Eduard Munch, "Scream", 1895, lithograph, 35cm×25.2cm Berlin State Prints and Drawing Gallery (Germany)
Many popular works will have multiple versions. There are also four "Screams" (lithographs are numerous).
Edward Munch, The Scream, 1893, crayon, 74cm× 56cm Munch Art Gallery (Norway)
The first oil painting (stolen) was created in 1893, the same year Munch created the second with crayons. The third is a pastel painting created in 1895, and the last is a tempera painting (stolen) created in 1910.
Edward Munch, The Scream, 1910, tempera, 83.5cm×66cm, Munch Art Gallery (Norway)
The faces in these four "Screams" are different, and the difference can be seen at a glance. In addition, in terms of size, the original is the largest, and the next few are slightly smaller.
Edward Munch, The Scream, 1895, pastel, 59cm×79cm private collection (Norway)
Two of the four "Screams" were stolen (fortunately all lost and recovered), and it is surprising that the paintings will be stolen for the third time and become the object of betting. They all say that there must be two and three, but let's pray that Scream won't be such a fate.
Munch once said, "Sickness, madness, and death are the black angels that surround my cradle." ”
He was always worried that he would go crazy, and later received treatment in the hospital around the age of 45, overcoming his anxiety disorder. However, after recovering from his illness, the goddess of art was no longer with him. From then until his death at the age of 80, he was in vain pursuing the inspiration he once had. Was madness the source of energy for his art... This is reminiscent of the saying that genius and that are only a line apart.
At the Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern Art Auction in New York, which began at 7:00 a.m. Beijing time on May 3, 2012, Munch's iconic Scream appeared as the 20th lot, and finally fell the hammer for $107 million, plus a commission of $119.9 million, setting a record for the highest price at auction.
The auction featured a 1895 edition of his work, collected by Norwegian businessman Peter Olsen, whose father, Thomas Olsen, was Munch's friend, neighbor and patron of the arts. It is also the only painting of Scream from a private collection.
#Oil Painting Appreciation##Expressionism##Scream##Abstract##经典之作 #