The Scream (1910) depicts one of the most iconic figures in Western art history, painted by Edvard Munch (1863-1944). The swirling landscape and fiery sky paired with the ambiguous, androgynous gaping humanoid figure in the forefront has made it a cultural touchstone and inspired many theories and interpretations. The painting is commonly linked to a passage in Munch’s diary from 1892, where he writes: “I was walking along the road with two friends—the sun went down—I felt a gust of melancholy—suddenly the sky turned a bloody red. I stopped, leaned against the railing, tired to death—as the flaming skies hung like blood and sword over the blue-black fjord and the city—My friends went on—I stood there trembling with anxiety—and I felt a vast infinite scream [tear] through nature.” If interpreted through this passage, the painting represents an expressionistic construction of memory: the pure sensation of emotion, one overwhelmed by the surrounding world.

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