Munch's Silent Scream
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- čas přidán 17. 02. 2020
- Edvard Munch's the Scream is definitely one of the most recognized paintings. But do we really know it? What is the scream? Who's the skeleton-like character? Why do they look scared? Join me in analyzing this anxiety filled painting made by a troubled genius of the 19th and 20th century.
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I think there is another important element of context: The red sky was likely caused by the eruption of Mount Krakatoa (in modern day Indonesia), which occured in 1883. The vulcanic ash particles remained in the upper atmosphere for years, causing sunsets all over to the world to be particulary colourful. The eruption (or rather: explosion) of the vulcano was incredibly violent, equivalent to 130-200 Megatons of TNT (for comparison: The most powerful nuclear bomb of all time, the "Tsar Bomba", had a equivalent of 50 Megatons of TNT). The sound of the explosion could even be heard in Perth (Australia), over 3,000 km away. More than 35,000 people died as aresult of the explosion and the subsequent tsunamis. I don't know if Munch was aware of the cause of the sky's colour, but one could say that the "scream" he heard, was - in a metaphorcial sense - the scream of Krakatoa.
that is a hell of an insite...thank you for sharing it.
This whole video was a real perspective shifter... and your comment even added MORE. Thank you!
BUT:
I thought I had learned, or at least I have always thought since I was a kid, that the Tsar Bomba was equivalent to 100 megatons of TNT. Are you sure about the 50? (Seriously just asking, I want it clarified if I've been wrong all these years 😕)
Ok NVM i just clarified... it WOULD have been 100 mt if uranium 238 had been included. They left it out to reduce a LOT of radioactive fallout. Wow.
@@Ziad3195 nah the sky is sometimes naturally red in the evening, I've seen it happen
@@theknight8560 While yes: Munch painted it 1893 , that was 10 years after the eruption, his experience of this sky was in summer 1891 (so not 10 years after, but only 8 years after). The particles of an vulcanic eruption can go very high into the stratosphere, and the smaller they are, the more time they need to fall down. Yes we cant say for sure it was because of the vulcanic eruption - but its definetely possible - even likely.
Another point of context: they're not standing on a bridge, but on a sidewalk. This is the road down from Ekebergsletta to Oslo ("Ekebergskrenten" on Street View) and the water in the background is the Oslo fjord. If I recall correctly, there used to be a sanatorium located below it (the same one his sister was in) which might've been the source of the scream, if he heard one.
I think the painting is more self than society. Ascribing to anxiety, mental illness, and self conflict. I wanted to get a replica back in 02 during my early teens but couldn't afford it. It's still one of best composition paintings out there.
That is what I heard also, I would like to keep our version! :)
The fact that toddler Munch decided to paint a medicine bottle at 12 is really telling. It is heartbreaking and makes all his works a lot more compelling.
I knew about Munch's anxiety but i had no idea how present was in The Scream.
Excellent as always Uncle Canvas!
You're welcome Julian! Thank you for the compliment!!
You have a great voice for this. Really enjoy the cut out effects at the beginning.
Thank you for the feedback! It's super appreciated
Me too
this painting scared the daylights out of me when I was little, I didn't even want it near me... my parents had to get rid of the painting so I'd feel safe in my playroom lmao
Glad im not the only one getting a creepy vibe from it 😂
I have it in my room and my 4 year old niece was scared of it the first time she saw it. I just told her he was surprised/excited to see her, and then we pretended to give it ice cream lol idk if it worked but i really hope it did cause I can 100% see how this would be terrifying to a child
That is so nice
This painting scared me so much as a child; it was in my art teacher's room, and I would avoid looking at it every single day. Once I even left class crying because of it and had to stay in another teacher's room. It's weird when I think back on it. I appreciate it much more now, as someone who loves art.
That's such a beautiful and haunting description of a panic attack
I love how he’s covering his ears like it’s some sort of attempt to shut out the terrible thoughts anxiety can bring in
I've always felt that there was something about this iconic (to the point of being "kitschy," unfortunately) artwork, one I was "feeling" viscerally but not "grasping" intellectually. There is a dread-inducing nightmare logic to the composition, one which the conscious mind can just vaguely intuit but which the subconscious mind immediately grasps and recognizes. Munch himself is having a "panic attack" in the full sense of that phrase (i.e., one that involves a debilitating existential dread). I have felt this before but have never been able to describe the experience adequately. Maybe Munch chose the best route with this masteful work of Nordic Expressionism. Speaking of which, could there be a connection between the experience depicted and the "Germanic" or "Teutonic" cultural disposition toward the suppression (as opposed to healthy processing) of emotions?
You thought I was feelin you? 😱
Thank you, i was waiting for a video on Munch, greatings from Norway🇳🇴
Thank you! I'm happy you were looking forward to this video!! Hope it lived up to your expectations!
This painting scared me the first time I saw it.
This is soooo good. I love the content of this channel to the point of considering watching new videos a great treat! This is the perfect gateway into enjoying art, at least for me.
Thank you so much!!
Edvard Munch's father
and sister died at a mental hospital in norway. His mother had died of tuberculosis.
When munch was done with this painting- The Scream
there was a lot of hysteria of discussions and debates. Norway had many rebels and even anarchists - Hans Jæger (The Anarchist's Diary) bohemians. There were very heated discussions. At a gathering, a medicine student Munch made it public - that he must be mentally ill because he had painted this picture. Edvard Munch was very upset and he wrote about it in his diaries. After brutally losing his mother to the disease tuberculosis and then father and sister who die in a mental hospital - one is a heartless human being who tears in the personal history of an artist. Edvard Munch isolated himself and yes some absinthe was drunk. He was intimidated and hurt by being used in gossip - for pleasure in medical student circles and among his own. This combination probably led to an admission in 1908.
After he then came out after treatment. he was stable for the rest of his enormously artistic life and was a sober man. And no! He did not suffer from a mental illness
Why were his father and sister put in the mental hospital?
I've been digging through a lot of your old videos and absorbing everything. Wonderfully narrated and tastefully analysed. Still captivating even during revisits.
I was lucky enough to see the Munch retrospective in Oslo in 2013 (?) One of the most astonishing exhibitions I've ever seen, and I've worked in the arts for 25 years!
Something not mentioned in the video is its size.
I had long loved Munch's work when i was a kid, and recognised my own mental struggles in it. So when I was an exchange student in Oslo, one of the first things I did was to visit the Norwegian National Gallery to view this version of 'The Scream'.
What immediately struck me was its size. It's not that big. But because its emotionally and visually loud, I assumed the painting would be too. But it's not. It's just enormously arresting, and I still absolutely love its timelessness decades later. ❤️
I always found this painting to be disturbing in ways I could not figure out why and this video explaining the story, possible meaning of this painting make this painting even more disturbing.
Been a regular visitor to your channel. Love your work. Thank you.
Thank you! I'm happy you're enjoying the content!
Probably my favorite painting
very grateful for this channel :)
I love these videos, the main reason, because it shows how hollow "death of the author" theory bleaches the nature of a piece of art; removing culture, context, time, place, and person.
It's like reading Oscar Wilde and Alfred Douglas' work, yes, you can read them independently, but knowing their toxic romantic relationship makes reading them an entirely different experience; you see parallels and interplay in their works from the moment they meet, you can tell when their relationship started effecting their writing and in a permanent way, right up until their deaths.
That face when he thought she was feelin him
The manmade bridge and ships cut through and are in conflict with the natural swirly line and the subject is also swirly, like they are being sucked into 'nature'. This could be seen as anxiety over man's conflict with nature while simultaneously being a pat of nature. In Northern Europe the words 'Nature' and 'God' can often be interchanged. This painting could have been called "The scream of God."
They made a great sculpture out of this, that you could modify the front character’s pose to reenact almost anything besides screaming. It’s actually one of the funniest parodies made available to the general public.
I watched your video on Stanczyk earlier today and unlike that painting, know the full title and story behind the painting helps me to more fully understand and appreciate it.
Thanks nice appreciation of visual art with apt analysis
My favorite painting ever.
This is so good. Such a smooth voice !
Thank you very much for the compliment Henri!
Yeah, he should start a podcast or something!
I love this channel
I don't know why but this painting used to terrify me as a kid.
Am I crazy or did you have like 50k subscribers a week ago?
Good job guys love your vids.
🔥
Please forgive my uneducated question, but would you say artists typically paint/-ed with intention to the say, contrast of lines/shapes/colors etc, or simply painted and without awareness, created the complexities we see today?
It's unbelievable 5 ppl liked this comment.
Unaware? WHAT?!
@Steven Keck both of you seem to be missing the point and reality of being a painter. Technique has very little to do with "meaning", symbolism, etc. It's a dicipline you master from experience of the material and putting paint on canvas. And although making a good painting absolutely may involve making something of a "happy accident" and changing direction, a prifessional painter isnt using colors or hues or tools or brushstrokes "randomly" and without absolue awareness. Like a writer doesn't make choices of words and grammar by accident or unawares. A jazz musician improvizing is very much aware of their choices. And the more seasoned you are in your dicipline the less you need to consciously think about it, it becomes a language you command in your stream of consciousness. This applies to almost every artform and is a huge divider between "dabbling" and an experienced professional.
Very good job
Great video
I have never cared about art, but these videos are amazingly interesting 😁👍
I always thought it should have been called The Shriek, if it had indeed referred to the subject.
He is definitely a MUNCH
you thought i was feelin you?
Always thought it's not so much a scream as a shout, but the "Eeek!" type of "scream".
I think we all can relate to this painting especially in this terrible times of anxiety and climate change...
besides munch's words, if the main protagonist was screaming the couple that we see walking in the bridge would look back in shock or out of interest.
uhhh, maybe it's silent because it's a painting
I think Munch was very interested in mankind's place in nature, even as we have built an artificial world for ourselves. In the painting, what is manmade, like the bridge and boats, is very rigid. Meanwhile, nature is curved and formless. Man curves with nature as he is a part of nature. Yet there is a barrier, a literal and physical barrier between him and the world. Nevertheless, nature screams and man hears it. No matter how many barriers we build, we will always hear the scream.
Zooming out you suddenly become aware that all of this is happening on a TV screen - an epic space opera playing out for someone’s entertainment. But the actors don’t know they’re actors. To them, this galactic orgy is as real as real gets.
Wonder why the full title isn't more well known 🤔
the OG pog face
😱
The scream awesome
Never break a promise.
Cool
you thought i was feelin u?
The Scream was inspired when he had a heavy hangover. True story.
I was primary I kinda draw this for the school
so THIS is where she got the idea...
It looks surprised I need the painting looks shocked
Remember when people started spreading the myth that the painting is of a dog? They showed an edited version that lots of people didn't recognize as edited. The actual painting doesn't even loosely resemble a dog
he A MUNCH!!
No way they named a painter after that icespice song
😱😱😱😱😱😱😱😱
Putting the C over the mouth in the beginning was a chad move
The bracelets new
🙂
Bro has Haki
smh didnt even talk about mount krakatoa bs
The original title it is not "Skrik"(Scream in norwegian)? Never heard about your version. I mean.. as title.
It's called The Scream of Nature and he describes an infinite screaming in the inspiration for it, but they're not screaming? I think you're lookin too far into this bruh
Not everyone is in tune with such things, myself included. Somethings are noticeable to one person and not to another, and yet a different situation could be “screamingly” (pun intended) obvious to one and casually passed by, by anyone else.
they are not screaming, they are anxious. the scream of nature refers to sensory overload and the effects it has on some people. the person is overwhelmed and the nature around them in the moment becomes so overwhelming that it appears to be screaming at them (attacking them).
Idk why but whenever I see scream all I see is a failed attempt at a dog-
Munch ?
Ice spice brought me here
B
This video really didn't need to be made. You and everyone else who talked about this painting added nothing of value to what Munch himself said about how this came to be (1:31).
Yes I know it's a dog
it looks like a dog
excelent information but the WOKE BULLSHIT ruined the usability for my class. "They" suggest that thereare more than one person in the body of the screamer. sad
nope, its just the pronoun you use when you cannot identify the gender of a character.