Madonna by Edvard Munch (1984)

Why is 'The Scream' the most famous of them all? 

'The Scream' by Edvard Munch is undoubtedly the artist's most celebrated artwork. In fact, it has become one of the most iconic paintings of all time. It has been in the public eye repeatedly over the past fifty years, winning the accolade for the highest nominal price-tag ever to be paid for in auction ($119,922,600), and stolen in 1994 and again in 2004; it was even featured in an episode of the Simpsons! I suppose it begs the question why? Andy Warhol wanted to desacralise the painting through mass production........perhaps Andy and his series of silk prints were responsible for making 'The Scream' such an iconic image in popular culture. However, you could argue that Munch had already intended on recreating it on mass having made a lithograph of the work for reproduction. In fact, 'The Scream' is a series of four artworks NOT one. Only until recently had I realised that 'The Scream' (the 1910 version on cardboard) had been stolen with the Munch's less well-known artwork 'Madonna'. It made me realise that although I was aware of 'Madonna' by Edvard Munch and recognised it as one of the artist's most notable paintings, it had been a mere auxiliary to the almighty Scream during the theft in 2004.

'Madonna' is a series of artworks too. Munch painted several versions of the composition and also produced a number of prints. My argument that 'The Scream' is only iconic because of mass production is now void. So why is 'The Scream' so iconic? It might be because it has the most impact......I mean a screaming figure is an image hard to forget. Author Martha Tedeschi once stated: "Whistler's Mother, Wood's American Gothic, Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa and Edvard Munch's The Scream have all achieved something that most paintings—regardless of their art historical importance, beauty, or monetary value—have not: they communicate a specific meaning almost immediately to almost every viewer. These few works have successfully made the transition from the elite realm of the museum visitor to the enormous venue of popular culture."

The composition may have become even more symbolic after the Nazi occupation of Norway. Throughout the occupation, Munch apparently lived in constant fear that Nazis would confiscate his whole collection of work. Subsequently, eighty-two of his paintings were taken by the Nazi regime. Seventy-one of the artworks were returned to Norway, which included 'The Scream'. In some ways the piece became a national reminder of Nazi oppression. Norway regards the piece as a national treasure; it is housed in the Munch Museum in Oslo, which is one of the city's most visited landmarks and this year 'The Scream' has been made into a novelty stamp by the Norwegian Postal Service. 

'Madonna' meanwhile sits in its shadows. 

Sleeping Girl by Sonia Delaunay (a wonderful example of Orphism, a movement to which Kupka was indirectly connected)

Despite providing creative people with a facility to showcase their work, I believe that blogging - along with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram and every other social media tool - is responsible for making us all narcissists! I have inadvertently admitted to being a narcissist, which is fine. I see the latter as a sort of disclaimer; hopefully it will discourage anyone who is the least bit self-righteous to stop reading and for the empathetic soul to admit that they are too just a victim of society with a Facebook account, using snazzy filters on what they've just had for dinner and updating their status with some tragically sycophantic commentary during an episode of Masterchef or their trip #Barcelona.


I just want to blog about art.......not only because I'm a sycophantic narcissist but because I like the idea of documenting what it is that grabs me and because I have a terrible habit of forgetting what I've learnt. To get the ball rolling I'd like to post this picture of 'Etude pour Amorpha' by František Kupka because if this conveniently came on the market and I conveniently had limitless amounts of money I would HAVE IT!! I saw 'Etude pour Amorpha' at the Pompidou centre in Paris a fortnight ago. Kupka's resistance towards being type-cast by an art movement was communicated well by the Pompidou. The curator had purposefully hung Kupka's work in a seperate room, which symbolically flanked the main hall that displayed iconic examples of the movements Cubism and Abstractism. By doing this, Pompidou was pretty much acknowledging that Kupka is exempt from any specific movement but his work is an important representation of the bridge between cubism and abstractism....well done Pompidou!! 

I like Kupka's work because I like colour. Kupka studied colour theory, which has personally always appealed to me. His use and attitude towards colour influenced people like Robert Delaunay, whom I also love. Kupka believed in freeing colours from association, which believe it or not is a very subtle form of anti-establishmentarism (can't pronounce it but I can write it!) I've since discovered that Kupka felt that there was a strong relationship between music and painting, which makes me love him even more! Jenny Soep are you reading this?