A painting a day · No. 34 of 38
The Scream
Edvard Munch (1863–1944)
1893 · Tempera and crayon on cardboard · National Museum, Oslo
The story
Munch wrote that he was walking at sunset when the sky turned blood red, and he felt 'an infinite scream passing through nature'. The view is from a hill above Oslo's fjord.
Look closer
- The figure is not screaming. It is covering its ears against the scream.
- The two people behind on the bridge walk on as if nothing is happening.
- The straight lines of the bridge against the swirling sky and water.
Did you know
A tiny pencil note in the sky reads 'Can only have been painted by a madman!' In 2021 the museum confirmed the handwriting is Munch's own.
Why we can show it
Edvard Munch died in 1944. UK copyright lasts for the artist’s life plus 70 years, so even under today’s rules this painting would have been free for anyone to show since 2015. The photograph is a faithful copy of a flat work, which creates no new copyright. We do not store the picture: it comes from Wikimedia Commons each time it is needed. More on this.