Munch's 'The Scream' Goes on Display In New York City

  • 12 years ago
Edvard Munch's iconic "The Scream" went on display at The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City on Wednesday (October 24).

Perhaps, one of the world's most famous images, "The Scream" will be on display at the museum for six months.

"It's pretty hard to express with an image or with words that kind of profound anxiety or terror that we all feel sometimes, thinking about the human condition and he somehow nailed that," said Ann Temkin, the Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at MoMA.

Munch created four versions of "The Scream" between 1893 and 1910. The 1895 pastel-on-board image is the only one in private hands. It was sold at auction at Sotheby's in May for $120 million (USD), making it the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction. The other versions are in museums in Norway.

"On the paper if you look at this up close, actually the way that Munch is making the marks, you feel that the paper is almost vibrating. I think the energy and the anxiety that he's expressing through the way he makes the line so forcefully or nervously, he varies the way the lines work so much in that picture that you feel a direct connection between the artist's body, mind, psyche, hand and that image. So even though it is an inanimate thing, a piece of paper, it has this kind of electricity," she added.

"The Scream" will be on view at MoMA until April 29, 2013.

Recommended