“Only crazy people can draw…” Munch’s secret hidden in’Scream’

This’secret message’ is engraved in the upper left corner of the canvas of Norwegian painter Edvar Munch’s’Scream’. It’s written in pencil, so it’s a very small print. In the meantime, various speculations have been made about the identity of this article, such as “Munch wrote” and “It is damage to the work.”

On the 22nd (local time), AP·dpa news agency reported that the mystery of this sentence written in’Scream’ was resolved. The Norwegian National Museum of Art revealed that Munch had written this article.

“The writing is undoubtedly Munch’s own,” said Maibrit Gulen, the curator of the National Gallery of Norway, and said that he compared the writing with the writing of Munch’s diary and letter.

Munch completed this work in 1893. The museum figured that Munch had completed this work and wrote a pencil on the canvas. “It is possible that the text was written in 1895, when Munch first exhibited the work,” said Guuleng.

It is said that at the time’Scream’ appeared in the world, suspicion of Munch’s mental state arose because of his unprecedented intensity in the art world. It is said that a medical degree directly hit Munch at a discussion meeting, saying, “Mental health is suspicious. His work proves that Munch is not healthy.”

Munch seems to have been deeply wounded when negative evaluations of himself and his work continued, and inscribed in his heart. Curator Gouleng revealed that Munch had mentioned the case in a letter or diary.

For this reason, the museum concluded that Munch had added it in 1895 or immediately after the first exhibition was held to respond to his evaluation of his work.

Meanwhile, the Norwegian National Gallery, which is newly opened in Oslo in 2022, conducted such research in the process of studying and preserving Munch’s works for exhibition.

Reporter Seok-Hyun Ko [email protected]