Edvard Munch

The Scream

Modern influential 138 sayings

Sayings by Edvard Munch

Art comes from joy and pain, but mostly from pain.

Late 19th - Early 20th Century — A concise summary of the emotional wellspring of his art.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Nature is not only all that is visible to the eye… it also includes the inner pictures of the soul.

Late 19th - Early 20th Century — Explaining his Symbolist approach to depicting nature as a reflection of inner states.
Strange & Unusual Confirmed

No longer shall I paint interiors with men reading and women knitting. I will paint living people who breathe and feel and suffer and love.

1889 ('St. Cloud Manifesto') — A declaration of his artistic shift towards emotional and psychological themes, moving away from con…
Strange & Unusual Confirmed

By painting colors and lines and forms seen in quickened mood I was seeking to make this mood vibrate as a phonograph does. This was the origin of the paintings in The Frieze of Life.

Late 19th Century — Explaining his artistic technique and the emotional resonance he aimed for in his 'Frieze of Life' s…
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I find it difficult to imagine an afterlife, such as Christians, or at any rate many religious people, conceive it, believing that the conversations with relatives and friends interrupted here on earth will be continued in the hereafter.

Early 20th Century — Expressing skepticism about conventional religious notions of the afterlife.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I learned early about the misery and dangers of life, and about the afterlife, about the external punishment which awaited the children of sin in Hell.

Late 19th Century — Reflecting on his strict religious upbringing and its impact on his worldview.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Painting picture by picture, I followed the impressions my eye took in at heightened moments. I painted only memories, adding nothing, no details that I did not see. Hence the simplicity of the paintings, their emptiness.

Late 19th - Early 20th Century — Describing his method of painting from memory and emotional impressions, leading to simplified forms…
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

A person himself believes that all the other portraits are good likenesses except the one of himself.

Early 20th Century — A humorous observation on self-perception and how people view their own likeness in art.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The camera cannot compete with the brush and the palette so long as it cannot be used in heaven or hell.

Early 20th Century — Another statement on the limitations of photography compared to painting's ability to express deeper…
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

The notes I have made are not a diary in the ordinary sense, but partly lengthy records of my spiritual experiences, and partly poems in prose.

Early 20th Century — Describing the nature of his extensive personal writings.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Some colors reconcile themselves to one another, others just clash.

Early 20th Century — A simple yet insightful observation on color theory, possibly reflecting his own emotional palette.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

In my childhood I always felt that I was treated unjustly, without a mother, sick, and with the threat of punishment in Hell hanging over my head.

Late 19th Century — Reflecting on the traumatic experiences and anxieties of his early life.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I painted the picture, and in the colors the rhythm of the music quivers.

Late 19th - Early 20th Century — Describing the synesthetic experience of painting, where colors evoke musical rhythms.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

To those that labeled his work morose and too unsettling, Munch declared that 'I have tried to understand my life and its significance. I intended to help others do the same about their own lives'.

Early 20th Century — Responding to critics of his art, explaining his deeper purpose.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

It is so strange to be entirely gone that it must that the hour must come when you can say to yourself now you have 10 now 5 minutes left and then it will happen and you shall feel how little by little you become nothing – Then you will never again see the green landscapes It is so strange that so much that is lovely exists and that one has to leave it.

Late 19th - Early 20th Century — A poignant and existential reflection on the process of dying and leaving the world.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

I was walking along the road with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.

January 22, 1892 (diary entry) — The extensive diary entry detailing the experience that inspired 'The Scream'.
Strange & Unusual Confirmed

The way one sees is also dependent upon one's emotional state of mind. This is why a motif can be looked at in so many ways, and this is what makes art so interesting.

Late 19th Century — Explaining the subjective and emotional nature of perception in art.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

My will exceeds my talents.

Early 20th Century — A statement on his ambition possibly outstripping his perceived natural ability, fueling his relentl…
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

Death is pitch-dark, but colors are light. To be a painter, one must work with rays of light.

Early 20th Century — A metaphorical connection between the darkness of death and the light of artistic creation.
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable

For as long as I can remember I have suffered from a deep sense of anxiety which I have tried to express in my art.

Unknown — From his writings
Strange & Unusual Unverifiable