The Scream
From Ask in Wiki
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| The Scream |
| Edvard Munch, 1893 |
| tempera on cardboard |
| 83.5 × 66 cm |
| Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway |
| 64 worlds greatest paintings |
Scream (Skrik, 1893) is a seminal series of expressionist paintings by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. It is said by some to symbolize the human species taken by an attack of existential angst, with the skyline inspired by the red twilights seen after the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa. The landscape in the background is Oslofjord, viewed from the hill of Ekeberg. The Norwegian word skrik is usually translated as "scream", but is cognate with the English shriek. Occasionally, the painting has been called The Cry.
There is a tempera on cardboard version (measuring 83.5 x 66 cm) in the Munch Museum, Oslo, Norway (see gallery), and an oil, tempera, and pastel on cardboard (measuring 91 x 73.5 cm) in the National Gallery of Norway (shown to right). A third version is also owned by the Munch Museum, and a fourth is owned by Norwegian billionaire Petter Olsen. Munch later also translated the work by Munch was Der Schrei der Natur (The Scream of Nature).
On August 22, 2004, the Munch Museum's Scream was stolen at gunpoint, along with Munch's Madonna. Museum officials expressed hope that they would see the painting again, theorizing that perhaps the thieves would seek ransom money. On April 8, 2005, Norwegian police arrested a suspect in connection with the theft. On April 28, 2005, it was rumored that the two paintings had been burned by the thieves to conceal evidence. On June 1, 2005, the City Government of Oslo offered a reward of 2 million kroner (about USD $320,000) for information that could help locate the paintings. In early 2006, six men with previous criminal records were scheduled to go on trial, variously charged with either helping to plan or execute the robbery. Three of the men were convicted and sentenced to between four and eight years in prison in May of 2006. Two of the convicted art thieves, Bjørn Hoen and Petter Tharaldsen, were also ordered to pay 750 million kroner (US $122 million) to the City of Oslo, which is where the paintings were previously located. The Munch Museum itself was closed for 10 months for a $6 million security overhaul.
