Halloween Edition 2026: The Scream by Edvard Munch

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Edvard Munch was one of Modernism's most significant artists. His tenacious experimentation within painting, graphic art, drawing, sculpture, photo, and film has given him a unique position in Norwegian as well as international art history. Ref: Munchmuseet

 WHAT DOES THE SCREAM REALLY MEAN?

Edvard Munch’s most famous motif is an open narrative. The main protagonist is strangely enigmatic – it belongs to no class or culture, has no specific gender or ethnicity and is strikingly timeless. The motif probably originated on an evening stroll that Munch took with friends in 1891, as the sun was setting over the Oslo Fjord. In the years that followed, he explored the motif diligently in sketches and texts and made four colourful artworks and dozens of prints. Today, there are eight finished versions of The Scream in the museum’s collections: one painting, one pastel drawing and six lithographs. All the versions are different, but equally powerful. Note the group of men Munch has places in the background, standing on a straight road that disappears into infinity. This makes their distance from the figure in the foreground even more obvious. What arouses angst and despair in one person may be insignificant for another.