Who painted "The Scream"?

Edvard Munch painted “The Scream.” The Norwegian artist created the image as part of his exploration of anxiety, alienation, and intense emotional experience, themes that became central to his art.

Munch’s composition shows a figure on a bridge or elevated walkway, pressing its hands to its head beneath a blood-red, swirling sky. Two figures recede into the background. The distorted face and simplified forms make the work feel less like a conventional portrait than a visual symbol of existential distress.

Munch developed the idea in several media, including paintings, pastels, and a lithograph. That is why “The Scream” can refer to a group of related works rather than one single object. The versions are held mainly by the National Museum of Norway and the Munch Museum in Oslo.

A common mistake is to attribute the work to Vincent van Gogh because both artists used intense color and emotional distortion. Munch, however, was Norwegian and became a major influence on the later Expressionist movement.