Which Norwegian painter created the 1893 expressionist masterpiece The Scream?

Norwegian painter Edvard Munch created The Scream, whose best-known version dates from 1893.

The Scream is one of the most recognizable images in modern art. Munch produced several versions of the composition in different media, including paintings and a pastel. The figure on the bridge, with its open mouth and hands pressed to the face, has become a visual symbol of anxiety.

Munch based the image on a personal experience recorded in his diary. He described walking with friends at sunset, seeing the sky turn blood-red, and feeling an “infinite scream” passing through nature. The scene is linked to a viewpoint near Oslo, then called Kristiania.

The work is often called a painting, but not every version is painted. A pastel version sold at auction in 2012 for nearly 120 million US dollars. The figure is not definitively identified as a specific person; it is generally understood as an expression of existential distress.