The Scream is not a painting of a person screaming; it is a painting of a person trying to block out the scream of the world.
One Minute, One Masterpiece, One Modern Idea
In his diary, Edvard Munch described walking at sunset when he was suddenly overwhelmed by a wave of despair. He felt nature itself screaming. The figure is not screaming. He is trying to block out the unbearable noise of existence. This brilliant display of existential angst is now the universal emoji of our collective anxiety. We use it when everything is too much.
Today, we are drowning in noise, notifications, political chaos, natural disasters, economic uncertainty, doom scrolling, everyone’s crisis in our pocket 24/7. The figure in the painting is not screaming; he is horrified by the screams all around him. He puts his hands over his ears, wanting it to stop.
Munch paints our collective overwhelm as we put our hands over our ears.
And that is why it matters.
Season 1, Day 4/30
To reflect: What noise are you constantly trying to escape?
