Edvard Munch

The Scream shows a figure on a bridge-like path under a violent sky, turning private anxiety into a modern image of panic. Munch made the first painted version in 1893, and the motif exists in several versions.

Munch is usually linked more closely with Symbolism and early Expressionism than with French Impressionism. His work focused on psychological themes such as illness, jealousy, anxiety, and death.

The Frieze of Life was Munch's larger cycle of works about love, anxiety, illness, and mortality. Paintings such as The Scream, Madonna, and The Sick Child are often discussed in that emotional and thematic context.

Oslo is the main place to see Munch's work, especially at MUNCH, the museum dedicated to him. The National Museum in Norway also has a famous 1893 version of The Scream.