Hurt by the audience’s response to “The Scream”, Munch posted a hidden message “Madman”

A text scribbled in pencil on “Le Cri” by Edvard Munch (1893), which says that the work “can only have been painted by a madman”, is by the artist’s hand, reveals new discoveries. Curators at the National Museum of Norway made this surprising revelation while restoring and researching the painting ahead of a 2022 exhibition.

“The writing is definitely Munch’s,” said museum curator Mai Britt Guleng. “The writing itself, as well as the events of 1895, when Munch first showed the painting in Norway, all point in the same direction.

The inscription was probably added two years after the work was completed, when “The Scream” was first shown in Kristiania, Munch’s hometown (now Oslo). The painting sparked public outrage over what was considered the work’s disturbing imagery – a figure in a twisted grimace that has become a universal symbol of human angst – and questions about the condition mind of the artist.

Munch, who was deeply hurt by the response and has written extensively about it in his diary, reportedly added the line “crazy” as a bitter reply. (Munch’s father and sister both suffered from depression, and the Norwegian painter was hospitalized with a nervous breakdown in 1908.)

The enigmatic phrase had long intrigued scholars of Munch’s work, some of whom believed it was an act of vandalism – ironically, they believed it could have been written by one of the many outraged critics. of the painting that prompted Munch to write the line himself.

This historical background, combined with infrared scans of the upper left corner of the canvas and comparisons to other texts by Munch, led the museum to determine that the graphite inscription was the property of the artist. The discoveries complicate and deepen our understanding of the artist’s life and of the initial and troubled reception of a work that later became iconic.

“New research greatly enriches our experience with works of art,” says Karin Hindsbo, Director of the National Museum. “We will never be done with the art of Munch. Every time we ask a question about his works, new answers and perspectives emerge.