For my paper, I selected "The Scream" by Edvard Munch. Munch is looked upon as one of the most significant influences on the development of expressionism. He was quoted as saying "We want more than a mere photograph of nature. We do not want to paint pretty pictures to be hung on drawing-room walls. We want to create, or at least lay the foundations of, an art that gives something to humanity. An art that arrests and engages. An art created of one's innermost heart." I believe that with "The Scream," Munch did just that.
             The expressionism period was a movement that invoked emotions through art. In "The Scream" Munch stirs up emotions through his heavy brushwork and the use of unnatural colors. The use of red, orange or warm colors in the sunset seems to make them advance or stand out. The thick swirling lines of the sunset and the river create the movement. Munch relies on atmospheric perspectives to create the illusion of depth. The warm colors in the sunset stand out while the cool colors of the river seem to go backward. The shapes in "The Scream" are organic objects found in nature, but Munch has distorted these objects.
             I selected this painting for the fact that it disturbs me and at the same time intrigues me. In an interview about the painting, Munch said "I was walking along the road with two friends- watching the sunset- the sky suddenly turned red as blood- I stopped, leaned against the fence, deadly tired- my friends walked on and I was left, trembling with fear- and I could feel an infinite scream passing through the landscape."
             Edvard Munch's emotional unbalance is a great credit to his work. In 1908, Munch had a nervous breakdown, a culmination of his anxiety and fears going all the way back to his childhood. During the years previous to this he had experienced some of the most extreme emotions humans can. At age 5, his mother died and at 14, his favorite sister, Sophie dies as well. Tuberculosis entered...