The Scream

The Scream painted in 1893 by Edvard Munch, shows a tormented figure, which wails against a blood red. It is a seminal expressionist painting. Regarded by many as his most important work, it is said by some to symbolize modern man taken by an attack of existential angst. The landscape in the background is, viewed from the hill of Ekberg. Occasionally, the painting has been called The Cry.

Munch executed four versions of the painting, of which the most famous are a tempera on cardboard version measuring 83.5 x 66 cm formerly in the Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway, and an oil, tempera, and pastel on cardboard measuring 91 x 73.5 cm in the National Gallery, also in Oslo. A third version is also owned by the Munch Museum, and a fourth is owned by Peter Olsen. Munch later also translated the picture into a lithograph, so the image could be reproduced in reviews all over the world. However, one version is currently missing from the Munch Museum, having been stolen by art thieves in August 2004.