Insanity In Edvard Munch's The Scream

Edvard Munch was a troubled artist that grew up in a house plagued by illness and mortality. He struggle with insanity for most of his life. After the fundamental beliefs of Munch’s father resulted in the death of his mother and sister, Munch’s life would forever be changed. Each tragic event in Munch’s life would leave a lifelong impression that would later contribute to the young artists infatuation with dark themes in his art. Each of Edvard Munch’s paintings, drawings, and prints were meant to represent the anxiety and emotional turmoil that munch was feeling. In his painting The Scream, many see the sky as beautiful sunset when in all reality, Munch used shades of red to represent blood. It has been said that Munch received the inspiration behind the setting of the painting while visiting his sister Laura Catherine at the mental hospital in Oslo. He was apparently walking on a road that overlooked the city. Munch later wrote, “"One evening I was walking along a path, the city was on one side and the fjord below. I felt tired and ill. I stopped and looked out over the fjord—the sun was setting, and the clouds turning blood red. I sensed a scream passing through nature; it seemed to me that I heard the scream. I painted this picture, painted the clouds as actual blood. The color shrieked. This …show more content…
Not only were the lives of the two men similar, but there are also several similarities between their paintings, Starry Night and The Scream. Like The Scream, Starry Night also falls between the two periods in the history of art. Both paintings were unlike any other of their time. In both paintings the artists add a swirling effect to their pieces. Both the Van Gogh and Munch paintings consist of both bright and dark pigments. The two artist also depict unrealistic images such as the ghostly figures in The Scream and the oddly shaped building in Starry