A Grand Prophecy: A Great Fire That Covers the Night
The year is 1883. Norwegian artist Edvard Munch is enjoying a pleasant stroll with two companions on a pier overlooking the fjord of Christiania (now Oslo) at dusk, when suddenly, he is overcome by a sense of anxiety and dread. Munch's emotions during the stroll serve as the inspiration for one of the most iconic paintings in the history of Western art: The Scream. Munch would eventually paint different versions of the painting between the early 1890s and 1910, experimenting with various mediums. The painting itself is simple in a sense. It is divided into three major components: the sky, the Oslo fjord (the Nordic name for a sea inlet), and a pier with the main subject of the painting, an eerily elongated figure in black with hands on its head, midway through a terrifying scream. Colourful and swerving undulated strokes converge on the figure, bringing it into focus and emphasising the emotion of panic it represents. His two companions, who seem unperturbed by the presence of the ...