The painting "Scream", created presumably in the late XIX - early XX centuries, has gained incredible popularity in our time. She was repeatedly parodied, created by comics and rethought sketches. The image from the picture was used in advertising, cartoons, and videos. The idea of ​​the mask from the horror movie "Scream" was inspired by this particular canvas. There are legends about the curse of the picture - there are many mysterious diseases, deaths, mysterious cases around it.
Was this painting by Vincent Van Gogh? Painting "Scream" originally called "The Scream of Nature."
Artist Van Gogh
Vincent Van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853 in the village of Grot (Netherlands). Besides him, there were five more children in the pastor's family. And only one of them, Theo's younger brother, was of great importance in Vincent’s life. Theo financed his brother all his life, he was the only one who believed in his genius.
According to family tradition, Van Gogh tried himself as a commission agent in an art trading company, was a preacher and teacher. Having failed in these fields, he turned to art.
Studying painting, Van Gogh copied the canvases of masters of past centuries. He studied the intricacies of the craft on the example of brilliant artists. At the same time, he created his own unique author's style.
Introduction to painting
By the age of 30, Van Gogh had completely devoted himself to painting. In landscapes, still lifes, portraits, the artist was looking for his color and light. He often worked outdoors - under the hot sun or in a piercing wind. Van Gogh's health condition rapidly deteriorated. He was treated several times in a psychiatric clinic. The artist understood that frequent attacks and hallucinations indicate an imminent demise.
He furiously gets to work, portraying a bright and beautiful world ("Harvest", "Fishing boats in Sainte-Marie", "La Croix Valley"). In periods of longing and loneliness, a completely different mood of the paintings is manifested (“At the Gates of Eternity”, “Night Cafe in Arles”, “Walk of Prisoners”). When you look at these canvases, you get the feeling that the picture “Scream” was created in the same state. Van gogh often consider the author of this masterpiece. Is this statement true?
His only sale during his lifetime is the painting “Red Vineyards in Arles”. Remaining incomprehensible by contemporaries, the artist ponders suicide. July 29, 1890 he shot himself in the chest with a pistol. Van Gogh always understood that his time was limited. He worked hard, devoting himself to art. The museum in Amsterdam, dedicated to the work of a crazy artist, annually gathers crowds of tourists and fans.
Realizing his genius, was Van Gogh happy in life? The picture "Scream" is full of ringing horror and hopelessness. But who is the author of this canvas?
Painting "Starry Night"
One of the most famous paintings by Van Gogh, in addition to fields and sunflowers, is the painting "Starry Night." It is known that it was written in a psychiatric hospital in Saint-Remy. During periods of better health, the artist was allowed to draw.
Brother Theo made sure that Vincent was allocated a separate room for painting. Van Gogh portrayed local landscapes and flowers from nature. But Starry Night was written from memory. The movements of the stars are depicted in wide strokes - luminous lights seem to swirl in a spiral in a fancy dance. Thin branches of cypress stretch to the heights of heaven. And under this mysterious firmament the village froze surrounded by a blue sky.
What did Van Gogh want to say with his canvas? The painting "Scream" resembles the style of "Starry Night." The same wavy lines and inner uneasiness are the insignificance of man before the power of nature. A sense of misfortune, impending despair peers through the cosmic vastness of being.
Reality or altered state?
There are still debates among art historians and psychiatrists about how truthfully Vincent Van Gogh saw reality. “Scream” is an unusual picture. It clearly indicates a deformation of the artist’s consciousness.
The late painting by Van Gogh is the result of research into the work of the mentally ill. Psychiatrists, far from the evolution of art, call the artist's painting the fruit of a changed consciousness. They argue that reality in his canvases passes through the prism of an unhealthy state. The unusual style indicates the pathology of the mental state.
Opinion of art critics
Art historians, on the contrary, agree that Van Gogh's painting is a manifestation of genius. A unique style based on classics and impressionism, indicates the individualism of the artist. Between bouts of insanity and hallucinations, Van Gogh showed amazing accuracy in setting artistic goals and objectives. His self-control emphasizes clarity of thinking at the time of creativity.
Means for creating an imaginary world - this is how Van Gogh sees his painting. The painting "Scream" is permeated with a gloomy apprehension of trouble. The rattling haze in the background, the cry of horror in the foreground - this is truly a mystical apprehension of a future catastrophe.
Story with an ear
Paul Gauguin, a French artist, was a friend of Van Gogh. In 1888, they decided to spend the winter together in Arles. The temper of both painters, their violent quarrels led to trouble. In a half-mad state, after a scandal with Gauguin, Vincent cut off his ear - as one version of the artist’s act says.
According to another version, the joint drinking of alcohol and heated debate about painting led to a small brawl between friends. Maybe it was Gauguin who cut off Van Gogh’s ear? There is an option that the artist had not all his ear cut off, but only the lobe.
There is another version according to which Van Gogh suffered from otitis media. Severe pain, joint drinking of alcohol with Gauguin and their quarrels encouraged Vincent to such a way of getting rid of suffering.
The legend of a prostitute, who argued over two comrades, ended in an unpleasant incident with an ear. This variant of the development of events appealed to creative people. It was this version of the conflict that formed the basis of the book and film about Van Gogh.
The most banal version of what happened: after a stormy feast the next morning, Vincent accidentally cut off his ear. During shaving, a strong hand tremor led to an absurd case, which became the hallmark of the artist.
Is there a connection between this event and the image of the canvas "Scream"? The protagonist, clutching his ears with his hands, screams desperately in pain. Such a characterization of Van Gogh's Scream is impossible for the simple reason that he is not its author.
Mysterious picture
The painting “Scream” was painted between 1893 and 1910. The blazing glow of heaven, the terrible despair in the eyes of the protagonist, the unreality of everything that happens - the author was in a state of complete mental confusion. Is it possible to admit that the painting “The Scream” is by Van Gogh?
Some features of this mysterious canvas are noticed. When a person "interacts" with the picture, he suddenly begins to have problems. Relatives died in some people, someone went crazy or became depressed for a long time.
Most often, museum workers became victims of the painting. They had to contact the canvas the most. There is a tragic story about an employee who accidentally dropped a picture. The severe pain in the head that started led the unfortunate to suicide. Another museum employee touched the picture for the purity of the experiment. In the evening he burned alive in his own house. How true are these stories? It is not known for certain. But the negative energy of the picture is felt even in reproductions.
Given alcoholism and mental illness, we can assume that the picture "Scream" - Van Gogh. A photo of the canvas brings a wave of hopelessness to the viewer. But the true author is another artist.
Description of the artwork “Scream”
The canvas depicts the real terrain. It is located in the city of Oslo, near the clinic for the mentally ill. In it, the sister of the author of the picture was treated for an ailment.
The screaming figure on the canvas evokes different associations. It is compared with a skeleton, a mummy or an embryo. The protagonist of the picture screams with despair that gripped him. Pain and fear blows from the undulating lines of the landscape. They, as if in a haze, rattle on a high note, giving rise to a discord with the cry of the hero. Permeated with a polytonal chord picture "Scream". Van Gogh (description, emotions, the general style of a masterpiece) No wonder they consider the author of the canvas. Apparently, his state of mind was similar to the one in which Edward Munch painted his picture.
Who wrote The Scream?
Edward Munch - a Norwegian painter, theater artist, graphic artist, art theorist, is the author of The Scream. It is possible that the general style of the canvas is inspired by the work of a Dutch artist. Cosmic vibrations in the background seemed to be drawn by Van Gogh. Painting "Scream" located in the National Gallery and Munch Museum (Oslo, Norway).
Edward Munch created several variants of the masterpiece in the desire to get rid of his painful sensation. The bridge on the canvas, two figures in the background - the only reality of the chaos into which the protagonist plunges. The indifference of these figures emphasizes the complete loneliness of a person before fear and longing.
The author seemed to foresee future disasters of the 20th century - revolutions, world wars, environmental disasters.