The message ‘Can only be painted by a crazy man’, scratched and barely visible in the upper left corner of the painting, has been the subject of debate for decades and has been widely regarded as an act of vandalism by a viewer. of the piece.
The painting will be hung in 2015 at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. It has rarely been exhibited in recent years due to damage. Credit: BAS CZERWINSKI / AFP / AFP / Getty Images
But extensive research by the National Museum of Norway has revealed that Munch wrote the phrase himself.
The Expressionist masterpiece is one of the most celebrated works of modern times, announced as a timeless depiction of human anxiety. The tormented face of the subject became so famous that it recently got its own emoji.
Curators used infrared technology to analyze the message, which was placed on top of the completed painting, and compare it with Munch’s notes and letters and study the events surrounding the first public display of the work.
“The writing is undoubtedly that of Munch,” concluded Mai Britt Guleng, the museum’s curator. “The handwriting itself, as well as events that happened in 1895, when Munch first exhibited the painting in Norway, all point in the same direction.”
After the first public revelation, some critics rejected the appalling painting, and there was insane discussion about Munch’s mental state, which gave the idea that an angry third party had scratched their own damning review of the work itself.
But curators said reaction was probably the reason Munch made the addition, and the artist was upset about the critical reaction to the painting when he showed it for the first time in his hometown of Kristiania (now Oslo).
“At a discussion evening at the Students Association, where Munch was allegedly present, the young medical student Johan Scharffenberg questioned Munch’s mental health and claimed that his paintings proved that he was not healthy,” said the museum. “It is probable that Munch added the inscription in 1895, or shortly thereafter, in response to the verdict on his work.”
They added that Munch was hurt by the accusation and again referred to it in his own diary entries.
‘The Scream’, he said, was inspired by a walk Munch took through the city while in a state of mental and physical discomfort.