Ramos, Cammel B.

GEC-Art Appreciation
BSN IV-3 September 22, 2021

Questions
1. What do you think is the painting all about?

o The painting presented above is entitled “The Scream” created by the Norwegian
artist Edvard Munch. It is considered as the second most famous single image in
art history, after leonardo’s Mona lisa. In addition, it is also one of the four
versions of the “The Scream” that Munch created in his lifetime. It was displayed
in Oslo’s National gallery way back 1893 and boasts munch museum from 1910
as a rendition in pastel art.
Moreover, this painting represent the soul of Munch which suffered from
mental health issues during his childhood and a kind of self portrait rather than
adhering to the art style of the time — that is, painting pictures meticulously to
realistically represent the subjects in them — he chose to use an unrealistic style
to paint his emotions, rather than focus on realism and perfectionism in his art.
Therefore, this art highlights the personal emotions, expressions, and suffering of
the artist. It is not just simply a by-product of his stress but it symbolizes his dark
times as he dealt with mental illness and trauma brought by childhood experience.

Asia’s FIRST IiP – Gold

Recognition for Proficiency in Quality Granted INSTITUTIONAL ACCREDITATION Status Granted AUTONOMOUS Status
Management in 2015
Accredited University
 Thus, his attempt to rationalize and explain his experience was
through his best ability; painting.

2. Why do you think did artist created this painting?

o Edvard munch created this painting to serve as an example and symbolism of

how a mental illnes like trauma, anxiety and panic attack affect complexities of
human being. Likewise, munch explained that he painted a moment of his
existential crisis wherein he was walking down a road similar to the one in the
painting, while the sun was setting, creating a beautiful, vibrant background. His
friends were walking with him, but, looking out at the sky in front of them, he
stopped, while they continued walking. He then described having what we would
now consider to be a panic attack; he suddenly became tired, anxious,
claustrophobic, and the weight of nature and of the world hit him all at once.
Furthermore, it is also an expression of the artist inner feelings rooted from
the painful event he experience such as the death of his mother from tuberculosis
when he was five years old. This tragedy was compounded when his older sister,
Sophie, to whom he had become attached in her place, also died of tuberculosis
when he was thirteen. In addition to these two major losses during Munch's
critical stages of development, his father became emotionally unavailable when
he suffered an agitated psychotic depression, associated with religious
preoccupations, after his wife's death. All this trauma was intensified by the
poverty experienced by the Munch family, despite the fact that Edvard's father
was a physician.

3. Did this painting affect your thoughts and feelings? In what ways?

o Artist are often influenced by events that occurred in their life be it traumatic or
inspiring that’s why every art that they made impact the audience specifically
their thoughts and feelings. As this painting was presented, it serves as an eye
opener for all us on how this artwork expressed a strong emotional sensations. It
is illustrated in a sexless, twisted, fetal-faced creature with mouth and eyes open
wide such as horror character located in the centerpiece of the drawing. They are
also two men walking in the backgound and other object is the boat in the
bridge.From this, it gives off a strong feeling of fear and very uneasy to look at.
However, if you go beyond this painting it signifies an immense amount of
emotions that you could feel and that he was trying to connect with people
thus,clearly express what he was feeling deep inside.

Asia’s FIRST IiP – Gold

Recognition for Proficiency in Quality Granted INSTITUTIONAL ACCREDITATION Status Granted AUTONOMOUS Status
Management in 2015
Accredited University
 4. Was the artist successful in conveying his message to you?
Why?

o The artist was successful in conveying his message to me as it logically

expressed that this painting was not just about to make more money and gain
recognition but rather to show an emotions, trauma and anxiety that he have as a
person and not just a recognized expressionism artist. Therefore, he created this
piece of art for other people and not for himself, to show them that we are all
together, even in suffering. Though we all know that Anxiety plays on the
collective fear among people it is crucial to express unlike the figure present on
the bridge it scream all alone.

5. What title can you give to the painting? Why?

o The title that I can give to the painting is “timeless emotions” since I consider this
work good because even if it expressed in through art we can all relate to it. It is
completely timeless. The concept of anxiety is something that many people suffer,
and the time period we are in has not changed that. Most especially during amidst
of this pandemic wherein every aspect of human lives are being affected. We
are human. We go about our lives, and we experience things that we would rather
not have experienced. Moreover, The Scream still scares me, but for a different
reason. No longer is the ghostly face frozen in horror the point of my concern. It is
the fact that the painting itself is much a self-reflection that its fame has withstood
hundreds of years. Its popularity has not faded. When we look at the painting, we
see ourselves in it, frozen in a perpetual scream of timeless emotions. It is our
anxiety, our hurt, our suffering, and our mental illness. We are all humans
bounded by a roller coaster of emotions that is inherently changing through times.

Asia’s FIRST IiP – Gold

Recognition for Proficiency in Quality Granted INSTITUTIONAL ACCREDITATION Status Granted AUTONOMOUS Status
Management in 2015
Accredited University