Precursor of Expressionism, painter of The Scream
A Norwegian painter and precursor of Expressionism. He painted not the world the eye sees but the world the heart feels — smearing anxiety, loneliness, death, and the terror of love straight into twisting lines and searing color. The figure in The Scream, hands to its face and mouth agape under a blood-red sky, became the most famous image of all modern spiritual anxiety.
Munch wrote in his diary that on an evening walk he suddenly felt "an infinite scream passing through nature," and the sky burned blood-red. The Scream shows not one person crying out but the terror of the whole world poured into one person’s ears. He was the first to paint invisible psychic pain into an image anyone could recognize.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.