This week (May 7) marks the 16th anniversary of the day THE SCREAM was recovered, three months after it was stolen. The painting, by Edvard Munch, is actually one of several versions of the same screaming figure on a bridge. Another version was stolen in 2004.
It's probably safe to say that THE SCREAM is one of the most recognized paintings in the world. It's even been mocked in pop cluture, by such figures as Homer Simpson, no less. Why? It's a rather odd painting, with its blood red sky and two distant figures on the bridge. It's hard to know just what the artist intended when he painted it.
Maybe none of that matters. Maybe it's not important to understand anything other than the anguish of the figure in the forefront. Maybe it's the depiction of that raw emotion, front and center, that strikes a chord. We connect with that figure on the bridge at a primitive level. As artists, that connection is what we all pray for.
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I think I've seen that painting, but don't remember what I believed was happening. See ya soon. P.
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