Did Munch's Scream predict the current pain that man lives?

October 23, 2020 at 08:34 p.m.

 

The timelessness that certain works of art possess is impressive.

Scenes, characters and situations from the past that were recorded in famous paintings seem to become topical in various periods of man's life, as if time did not pass through them.

The picture of The Scream, Edvard Munch it is proof of the actuality of which we speak. 

This 2020 unexpectedly hit human vulnerability, bringing with it a pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus that, until now, continues without a cure and that every day takes the lives of millions in the world.

There are books, theses and hundreds of publications about El Grito that try to explain what inspired the Norwegian artist to show such despair in his emblematic painting.

The tormented life that he had to face marked by a severe father, a dead mother, sisters with weak health, bipolar disorders, depression and alcohol led Munch to create this painting that today it seems to reflect the current state of human sentiment worldwide.

In 1892, Munch shared what inspired him to paint such a work of art:

I was walking along a path with two friends, the sun suddenly set, the sky was stained blood red, I stopped and leaned against a fence, dead from exhaustion, blood and tongues of fire lurking over the dark blue of the fjord and of the city - my friends continued and I stood still, trembling with anxiety, I felt an infinite cry that went through nature.

 

These feelings managed to capture them in that painting inspired by the figure of a Peruvian mummy that he saw on a visit to Paris and that he considered would be ideal to universalize the existentialist message that he sought to show.

But does the main character scream or is he rather terrified by a scream he hears?

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Experts assure that his expression is due to the disturbance that hearing a scream generated in the protagonist of the work.

This painting It has been associated with a premonition of what the human being would live in the transition of the XNUMXth century with the great technological advances towards the XNUMXth century.

The loneliness, despondency, and despair that engulfed world society during that time might have been glimpsed by Munch in his artwork painted centuries ago.

And now, in the XNUMXst century, it seems that it is gaining strength and relevance again, showing the fear of the human being before a virus that seems uncontrollable and that keeps it captive in their homes and hidden behind a mask.