Seven years ago, I travelled to Norway to see a version of the painting, and it took some staring and thought-time to feel like I was in any way relating to the anxious intensity of the work. Perhaps we could blame the inflatable versions of the figure, the "Ghostface" Halloween masks popularised by the parodic Scream horror movies, or its endless reuse in cartoons, for this anaesthetic effect.
In praise of - THE SCREAM.
It's very hard to look these days at the contorted ghoul depicted in Edvard Munch's The Scream and feel anything other than numb amusement.
Seven years ago, I travelled to Norway to see a version of the painting, and it took some staring and thought-time to feel like I was in any way relating to the anxious intensity of the work. Perhaps we could blame the inflatable versions of the figure, the "Ghostface" Halloween masks popularised by the parodic Scream horror movies, or its endless reuse in cartoons, for this anaesthetic effect.
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Don't show me this again.