A pale figure stands on a bridge, his hands pressed to the sides of his head, his mouth open wide in what seems to be a terrible scream. Behind him, the blue-green landscape twists and turns, while red and yellow clouds cut across the sky like painful wounds. What I am describing is one of the most well-known images in art—Edvard Munch's The Scream.
Munch got the idea for the painting while walking with friends one evening in January of 1892. "Suddenly," he wrote in his diary, "the sky turned blood red. [...] I stood there trembling with anxiety—and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature." You see, contrary to popular opinion, it is not the figure who is screaming; it is nature. In this interpretation, the figure is not grasping his face in terror or grief; he is pressing his hands against his ears to try to block out the awful scream given off by the world.
Whatever the interpretation, the image is certainly disturbing. Even the artist, it seemed, was disturbed by what he had painted. In the upper left corner of the painting there can be found a faint note in pencil that reads: "could only have been painted by a madman." First noticed 11 years after the painting first appeared, the note was originally thought to be the work of a critic. However, later analysis has shown the handwriting to be identical to that of Munch himself.
Capturing such a range of complex, intense emotions, the image possesses for many an almost otherworldly power. Such is its appeal among art lovers that in 2012, one version of the painting (Munch in fact painted four) sold to a private individual for $120 million. The other three versions are available to view in the Munch Museum and the National Gallery of Norway in Oslo. To see The Scream up close and in person is, I can tell you, a life-changing experience indeed.
臉色蒼白的人影站在橋上，他的雙手壓在頭部兩旁，張大嘴巴彷彿發出可怕的尖叫聲。他的後方是交纏變化的藍、綠色地景；同時，有紅、黃色的雲霓劃過天際，彷彿痛苦不堪的傷痕。我現在描述的，就是世界名畫之一──愛德華．孟克的《吶喊》。
孟克於1892年1月，傍晚與朋友散步時，得到創作此畫的點子。「突然間，」他在日記寫道：「天空變得血紅。[??] 我站在那裏焦慮的發抖──我感受到一陣永無止盡的吶喊聲劃過大自然。」你瞧，與常見觀點相反，吶喊的並不是（畫中）人物，而是大自然。以此觀點詮釋，畫中人物並非因恐懼或悲傷而捧抓著臉；他是用雙手遮摀住耳朵，試著阻絕世界傳來的可怕吶喊聲。
無論是何種詮釋，這樣的畫面確實令人心神不寧，而且似乎連畫家本人，都對此畫作感到不自在。畫作左上角，可看到以鉛筆寫下的模糊備註：「只有狂人才畫得出來」。畫作問世後的11 年，才首度有人發現此備註。原本大家以為這是某藝評家的傑作，然而後來的分析結果顯示，此字跡與孟克本人的筆跡完全相同。
此畫作捕捉了多種不同複雜又強烈的情感，在許多人眼裡具有超凡脫俗的震撼力。這幅畫對藝術愛好者的魅力之大，造就了在2012年，其中一幅《吶喊》版本（孟克其實畫了四個版本）以1.2 億美元賣給私人收藏家。另外三個版本則可分別於奧斯陸的孟克博物館和挪威國家美術館看到。我保證，親自近距離欣賞《吶喊》，絕對是改變一生的體驗。 |
