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In 1978, the Munch scholar [[Robert Rosenblum]] suggested that the strange, sexless creature in the foreground of the painting was probably inspired by a [[Peru]]vian [[mummy]], which Munch could have seen at the [[Exposition Universelle (1889)|1889 Exposition Universelle]] in Paris. This mummy, which was crouching in a fetal position with its hands alongside its face, also struck the imagination of Munch's friend [[Paul Gauguin]]: it stood model for the central figure in his painting ''Human misery (Grape harvest at Arles)'' and for the old woman at the left in his painting ''[[Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?]]''. More recently, an Italian anthropologist speculated that Munch might have seen a mummy in [[Florence]]'s Museum of Natural History which bears an even more striking resemblance to the painting.<ref>{{cite news | title=Italian Mummy Source of 'Scream'? | date=7 September 2004 | accessdate=12 December 2006 | publisher=Discovery Channel | url=http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20040906/scream.html |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20041011032521/http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20040906/scream.html |archivedate = 11 October 2004}} ([[waybacked]] mirror).</ref>
In 1978, the Munch scholar [[Robert Rosenblum]] suggested that the strange, sexless creature in the foreground of the painting was probably inspired by a [[Peru]]vian [[mummy]], which Munch could have seen at the [[Exposition Universelle (1889)|1889 Exposition Universelle]] in Paris. This mummy, which was crouching in a fetal position with its hands alongside its face, also struck the imagination of Munch's friend [[Paul Gauguin]]: it stood model for the central figure in his painting ''Human misery (Grape harvest at Arles)'' and for the old woman at the left in his painting ''[[Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?]]''. More recently, an Italian anthropologist speculated that Munch might have seen a mummy in [[Florence]]'s Museum of Natural History which bears an even more striking resemblance to the painting.<ref>{{cite news | title=Italian Mummy Source of 'Scream'? | date=7 September 2004 | accessdate=12 December 2006 | publisher=Discovery Channel | url=http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20040906/scream.html |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20041011032521/http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20040906/scream.html |archivedate = 11 October 2004}} ([[waybacked]] mirror).</ref>


The environment of ''The Scream'' has been compared to that which an individual suffering from [[depersonalization disorder]] experiences, such a feeling of distortion of the environment and one's self.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=M-Cgs_T7Cl8C&pg=PA127&lpg=PA127&dq=depersonalization+disorder++the+scream+edvard&source=bl&ots=eYRH6VKoyI&sig=5U2V-an3_ZphrtTP2Q6HxbA1VlU&hl=en&ei=CPPASpmKCoShjAfFz6w1&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=depersonalization%20disorder%20%20the%20scream%20edvard&f=false Google books]</ref>
The environment of ''The Scream'' has been compared to that which an individual suffering from [[depersonalization disorder]] experiences, such a feeling of distortion of the environment and one's self.<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?id=M-Cgs_T7Cl8C&pg=PA127&lpg=PA127&dq=depersonalization+disorder++the+scream+edvard&source=bl&ots=eYRH6VKoyI&sig=5U2V-an3_ZphrtTP2Q6HxbA1VlU&hl=en&ei=CPPASpmKCoShjAfFz6w1&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1#v=onepage&q=depersonalization%20disorder%20%20the%20scream%20edvard& was a painting boomf=false Google books]</ref>


==Thefts==
==Thefts==

Revision as of 18:38, 4 May 2012

For other uses, see The Scream (disambiguation).
The Scream
Norwegian: Skrik
ArtistEdvard Munch
Year1893
TypeOil, tempera and pastel on cardboard
LocationNational Gallery, Oslo

The Scream (Template:Lang-no) is the name given to each of four versions of a composition, created as both paintings and lithographs, by the Expressionist artist Edvard Munch between 1893 and 1910. The works all show a figure with an agonized expression against a landscape with a red sky. The landscape in the background is the Oslofjord, viewed from Ekeberg, Oslo.

Edvard Munch created the four versions of The Scream in various media. The National Gallery, Oslo, holds one of two painted versions (1893, shown at right). The Munch Museum holds the other painted version (1910, see gallery) and one pastel. The fourth version (pastel, 1895) sold for $119,922,500 at Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern art auction on 2 May 2012 to a private buyer,[1] the highest nominal price paid for a painting at auction.[2] (The Card Players by Paul Cézanne was sold privately in 2011 for between $250–300 million[3]).

The Scream has been the target of several high-profile art thefts. In 1994, the version in the National Gallery was stolen. It was recovered several months later. In 2004, both The Scream and Madonna were stolen from the Munch Museum, and recovered two years later.

Sources of inspiration

The original German title given to the work by Munch was Der Schrei der Natur (The Scream of Nature). The Norwegian word skrik is usually translated as scream, but is cognate with the English shriek. Occasionally, the painting has been called The Cry.

In a page in his diary headed Nice 22.01.1892, Munch described his inspiration for the image thus:

I was walking along a path with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.

These words were hand-painted by Munch in poem form on the frame of the 1895 version of the painting.[4]

One theory advanced to account for the reddish sky in the background is that the powerful volcanic eruption of Krakatoa tinted the sky red in parts of the Western hemisphere for a few months in 1883 and 1884, about a decade before Munch painted The Scream.[5] This explanation has been disputed by scholars who note that Munch was an expressive painter and was not primarily interested in literal renderings of what he had seen. Alternatively, it has been suggested that the proximity of both a slaughterhouse and a madhouse to the site depicted in the painting may have offered some inspiration.[6]

The scene was identified as being the view from a road overlooking Oslo, the Oslofjord and Hovedøya, from the hill of Ekeberg. At the time of painting the work, Munch's manic depressive sister Laura Catherine was interned in the mental hospital at the foot of Ekeberg.[citation needed]

In 1978, the Munch scholar Robert Rosenblum suggested that the strange, sexless creature in the foreground of the painting was probably inspired by a Peruvian mummy, which Munch could have seen at the 1889 Exposition Universelle in Paris. This mummy, which was crouching in a fetal position with its hands alongside its face, also struck the imagination of Munch's friend Paul Gauguin: it stood model for the central figure in his painting Human misery (Grape harvest at Arles) and for the old woman at the left in his painting Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?. More recently, an Italian anthropologist speculated that Munch might have seen a mummy in Florence's Museum of Natural History which bears an even more striking resemblance to the painting.[7]

The environment of The Scream has been compared to that which an individual suffering from depersonalization disorder experiences, such a feeling of distortion of the environment and one's self.[8]

Thefts

Unsurprisingly, considering the fame of the painting, The Scream has been the target of a number of thefts and theft attempts. Some damage has been done in these.

On 22 February 1994, the same day as the opening of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, four men broke into the National Gallery and stole its version of The Scream, leaving a note reading "Thanks for the poor security".[9] The painting had been moved down to a second-story[10] display as part of the Olympic festivities, and the presence of international media covering the games made the theft a sensation.[11] An early claim of responsibility by a Norwegian pro-life group turned out to be false. After the gallery refused a ransom demand of US$1 million in March 1994, Norwegian police set up a sting operation with assistance from the British police (SO10) and the Getty Museum, and the painting was recovered undamaged on 7 May 1994.[12] In January 1996, four men were convicted in connection with the theft, including Pål Enger, who in 1988 had been convicted of stealing Munch's Vampire.[13] They were released on appeal on legal grounds: the British agents involved in the sting operation had entered Norway under false identities.[14]

File:Munch Scream Thieves 2004.jpg
Thieves taking paintings from the Munch Museum in Oslo on 22 August 2004. Photo taken by unidentified bystander.

Another version of The Scream was stolen in 2004. On 22 August, during daylight hours, masked gunmen entered the Munch Museum in Oslo and stole two paintings: Scream and Munch's Madonna.[15] A bystander photographed the robbers as they escaped with the artwork to their car (shown at right). On 8 April 2005, Norwegian police arrested a suspect in connection with the theft, but the paintings remained missing and it was rumored that they had been burned by the thieves to destroy evidence.[16][17] On 1 June 2005, with four suspects already in custody in connection with the crime, the City Government of Oslo offered a reward of 2 million Norwegian krone (roughly US$313,500 or €231,200) for information that could help locate the paintings.[18] Though the paintings remained at large, six men went on trial in early 2006, variously charged with either helping to plan or participating in the robbery. Three of the men were convicted and sentenced to between four and eight years in prison in May 2006, and two of the convicted, Bjørn Hoen and Petter Tharaldsen, were also ordered to pay compensation of 750 million kroner (roughly US$117.6 million or €86.7 million) to the City of Oslo.[19] The Munch Museum itself was closed for 10 months for a security overhaul.[20]

On 31 August 2006, Norwegian police announced that a police operation had recovered both The Scream and Madonna, but did not reveal detailed circumstances of the recovery. The paintings were said to be in a better-than-expected condition. "We are 100 percent certain they are the originals," police chief Iver Stensrud told a news conference. "The damage was much less than feared."[21][22] Munch Museum director Ingebjørg Ydstie confirmed the condition of the paintings, saying it was much better than expected and that the damage could be repaired.[23] The Scream had moisture damage on the lower left corner, while Madonna suffered several tears on the right side of the painting as well as two holes in Madonna's arm.[24] Before repairs and restoration began, the paintings were put on public display by the Munch Museum beginning 27 September 2006. During the five-day exhibition, 5,500 people viewed the damaged paintings. The conserved works went back on display on 23 May 2008, when the exhibition "Scream and Madonna — Revisited" at the Munch Museum in Oslo displayed the paintings together.[25] Some damage to "The Scream" may prove impossible to repair, but the overall integrity of the work has not been compromised.[26][27]

Record sale at auction

The Scream, the 1895 version done in pastel and owned by Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, sold for a record US$120 million at auction on 2 May 2012.[28] The bidding started at $40 million and lasted for over 12 minutes when an unnamed bidder by phone gave the final offer of US$119,922,500, including the buyer's premium. After the sale, Sotheby's auctioneer Tobias Meyer said the painting was "worth every penny", adding: "It is one of the great icons of art in the world and whoever bought it should be congratulated."[29]

The previous record for the most expensive work of art sold at auction had been held by Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, which went for US$106.5 million at Christie's two years prior on 4 May 2010.[30]. When accounting for inflation, the highest price paid for art at an auction is still held by Van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet, which sold for $82.5 million in 1990, or about $192 million 2012 dollars.[31] There have been reports that The Card Players, by Cézanne, sold privately for $250m in 2011.[32]

In the late twentieth century, The Scream acquired iconic status in popular culture. It was used on the cover of some editions of Arthur Janov's book The Primal Scream.[33] In 1983–1984, pop artist Andy Warhol made a series of silk prints of works by Munch, including Scream. The idea was to desacralize the painting by making it into a mass-reproducible object, though Munch had already begun that process himself, by making a lithograph of the work for reproduction. Furthermore, characteristic of post-modern art is Erró's ironic and irreverent treatment of Munch's masterpiece in his acrylic paintings The Second Scream (1967) and Ding Dong (1979).[34] Cartoonist Gary Larson included a "tribute" to The Scream (entitled The Howl) in his Wiener Dog Art painting and cartoon compilation, in which the central figure is replaced by a howling dachshund.

As a widely recognized painting in modern art, The Scream has been used in advertising, in cartoons, such as The Simpsons, films and on TV. The principal alien antagonists depicted in the 2011 BBC series of Doctor Who, named "The Silence", have an appearance based in part on The Scream.[35]

The iconic Ghostface mask worn by the primary antagonists of the Scream series of horror movies is based on the painting, and was created and designed by Fun World employee Brigitte Sleiertin as a Halloween costume prior to being discovered by Marianne Maddalena and Wes Craven for the film.[36]

In August 2006, Masterfoods, the European division of Mars, Incorporated, the maker of M&M's candies, began using Scream in ads for its dark chocolate variety of candies and offered a reward of two million of the candies for the painting's return. Shortly after the promotion was announced, the painting was recovered. Masterfoods stated its intention to honor the reward by paying the cash value of the M&M's to Norwegian authorities.[37]

References

  1. ^ Vogel, Carol (2 May 2012). "'The Scream' Is Auctioned for a Record $119.9 Million". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  2. ^ Emily Cohn, The Scream Auction: Munch's painting is not the most expensive work of art ever auctioned, The Huffington Post, May 3, 2002
  3. ^ Peers, Alexandra (January 2012). "Qatar Purchases Cézanne's The Card Players for More Than $250 Million, Highest Price Ever for a Work of Art". QuatarSale. Retrieved 2012-02-3. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  4. ^ Peter Aspden (21 April 2012). "So, what does 'The Scream' mean?". Financial Times.
  5. ^ Olson, Donald W. (2005). "The Blood-Red Sky of the Scream". APS News. 13 (5). American Physical Society. Retrieved 22 December 2007. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  6. ^ "Existential Superstar: Another look at Edvard Munch's The Scream" Slate.com Slate (22 November 2005). Retrieved 10 November 2008.
  7. ^ "Italian Mummy Source of 'Scream'?". Discovery Channel. 7 September 2004. Archived from the original on 11 October 2004. Retrieved 12 December 2006. (waybacked mirror).
  8. ^ was a painting boomf=false Google books
  9. ^ "4 Norwegians Guilty In Theft of 'The Scream'". AP. 18 January 1996. Retrieved 22 May 2009.
  10. ^ Dolnick, Edward (2005). The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece. HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-053117-1. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  11. ^ "On this day: Art thieves snatch Scream". BBC News Online. 12 February 1994. Retrieved 31 August 2006.
  12. ^ Dolnick, Edward (2005). The Rescue Artist: A True Story of Art, Thieves, and the Hunt for a Missing Masterpiece. HarperCollins. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  13. ^ "Master plan". The Guardian. 13 June 2005. Retrieved 21 December 2007.
  14. ^ Matthew Hart, The Irish Game: A True Story of Crime and Art, Viking Canada, 2004, p. 184.
  15. ^ "Scream stolen from Norway museum". BBC News. 22 August 2004. Retrieved 3 September 2006.
  16. ^ "Oslo police arrest Scream suspect". BBC News. 8 April 2005. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
  17. ^ "Famous Munch paintings destroyed?". Norway Post. 28 April 2005. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
  18. ^ "Reward offered for Scream return". BBC News. 1 June 2005. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
  19. ^ "Three guilty of The Scream theft". BBC News. 2 May 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
  20. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4098568.stm
  21. ^ "Munch paintings recovered". Aftenposten. 31 August 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
  22. ^ "Stolen Munch paintings found safe". BBC News. 31 August 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
  23. ^ "Munch paintings 'can be repaired'". BBC News. 1 September 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
  24. ^ "Museum to exhibit damaged Munch paintings". Aftenposten. 12 October 2006. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
  25. ^ Munch Museum
  26. ^ "About the conservation of The Scream and Madonna". Munch Museum. Retrieved 22 December 2007.
  27. ^ "'The Scream' to go back on display after 2004 heist". AFP. 3 March 2008.
  28. ^ "Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale: 2 May 2012 - Lot 20". Sotheby's. Retrieved 4 May 2012.
  29. ^ "Edvard Munch's iconic artwork The Scream sold for $120m". BBC. 3 May 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  30. ^ Michaud, Chris (3 May 2012). ""The Scream" sells for record $120 million at auction". Reuters. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  31. ^ Suzanne Muchni, Van Gogh Painting Sells at Record $82.5 Million, Los Angeles Times, 16 May 1990.
  32. ^ "Daily chart: The $cream". The Economist. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  33. ^ Janov, Arthur. (1977). The Primal Scream. New York: Abacus. ISBN 0-349-11834-5.
  34. ^ "Scream on the Surface". Munch-Museet. Retrieved 29 May 2005.
  35. ^ "Doctor Who boss says season start is 'darkest yet'". BBC. 5 April 2011. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
  36. ^ Kendzior, Sarah (2000). "The Face of "Scream"". Fangoria (189). Starlog Group Inc.: 29. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  37. ^ "'The Scream,' the Thief, and the 2 Million M&M's". ARTNews. 2008-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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