The message “It may only have been painted by a madman”, scratched and almost visible at the top left of the painting, has been the subject of debate for decades and was believed to be an act of vandalism by the viewer. of the piece.
The painting that was hung at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam in 2015. It has rarely been exhibited in recent years due to damage. Credit: BAS CZERWINSKI / AFP / AFP / Getty Images
But extensive research by the National Museum of Norway has revealed that Munch wrote the phrase himself.
The Expressionist Masterpiece is one of the most celebrated works of modern times, advertised as a timeless depiction of human anxiety. The anxious face of the subject has become so familiar that he was recently given his own emoji.
The curators used infrared technology to analyze the message, which was added to the top of the finished painting, comparing it to Munch’s notes and letters, and studying the events surrounding the first public display of the work.
“The writing is definitely Munch’s own,” concluded Mai Britt Guleng, the museum’s curator. “The writing itself, as well as the events of 1895, when Munch first showed the painting in Norway, all point in the same direction.”
After his first public discovery, some critics dismissed the disturbing painting and debated Munch’s mental state, giving confidence to the idea that an outraged third party wrote his own sudden condemnation of the work itself.
But curators said it was probably the reaction that caused Munch to make the addition, with the artist annoyed by the critical response to the painting when he first showed it in his hometown, Kristiania (now Oslo).
“On a night of debate at the Student Association, where Munch is believed to have been present, young medical student Johan Scharffenberg questioned Munch’s mental health by stating that his paintings showed he didn’t have a good mind. “. said the museum. “It is likely that Munch added the inscription in 1895 or shortly thereafter in response to the judgment on his work.”
They added that Munch was injured by the prosecution and referred again to his own newspaper entries.
“The Scream” is understood to have been inspired by a walk Munch took around the city while in a state of physical and mental discomfort.