The Scream

Edvard Munch's The Scream (sometimes also known as The Cry) has come to be regarded as his most significant contribution to German expressionism. It is part of his Frieze of Life series painted in 1893-1894, and depicts themes of sickness, death, anxiety, and love.

The Scream has often been considered as the very symbol of modern man - a man for whom God is dead and the pursuit of material possessions has provided little or no comfort. There is such irony in the fact that Munch came up with this motif more than a century ago. It seems like no other painting captures the essence of living in today's modern society better than this one.

With modern society's increasing emphasis on ambition, comfort, personal success and satisfaction, wealth and material gain, and significantly less concern on one's spirituality, morals, or the well being of other people, one cannot help but feel trapped and feel anxious over things that he or she seemingly feels that he or she has no control over. Maybe sometimes that is all we can do. Just scream.

Munch himself has written some prose well associated with this painting: "I was walking along a path with two friends - the sun was setting - suddenly the sky turned blood red - I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence - there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city - my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety - and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature."

To add even more irony, this painting was actually stolen...twice. Once in February 1994, and was recovered almost three months later. It was stolen a second time in August last year, and I believe it hasn't been recovered yet. The Scream is estimated to be worth between $59.6 million to $74.5 million, AP reported.

Bittersweet irony.