October 23, 2012
MoMA Presents Six-month Exhibition of Munch’s The Scream
NEW YORK, October 22, 2012—The Museum of Modern Art will open a special six-month exhibition of Edvard Munch’s iconic The Scream (1895), among the most celebrated and recognized images in art history, on October 24, 2012. The exhibition Edvard Munch: The Scream will also include a small selection of works of the same period drawn primarily from the Museum’s collection. Of the four versions of The Scream that Munch created between 1893 and 1910, three are in the collections of museums in Norway, and this pastel is the only one remaining in private hands. The Scream is being lent from a private collection, and will be on view at MoMA through April 29, 2013.
A haunting rendition of a hairless figure on a road under a yellow-orange sky, The Scream has captured the popular imagination since the time of its making. The image was originally conceived by Munch as part of the epic Frieze of Life series, which explored modern life by focusing on the themes of love, angst, and death. Especially concerned with the expressive representation of emotions and personal relationships, Munch was associated with the international development of Symbolism during the 1890s and recognized as a precursor of 20th-century Expressionism.
A haunting rendition of a hairless figure on a road under a yellow-orange sky, The Scream has captured the popular imagination since the time of its making. The image was originally conceived by Munch as part of the epic Frieze of Life series, which explored modern life by focusing on the themes of love, angst, and death. Especially concerned with the expressive representation of emotions and personal relationships, Munch was associated with the international development of Symbolism during the 1890s and recognized as a precursor of 20th-century Expressionism.
Like many of Munch’s paintings, The Scream has its basis in an autobiographical text the artist wrote some years earlier. On the plaque attached to the frame of this 1895 pastel drawing, he used red paint to inscribe the following lines in Norwegian:
I was walking along the road with two of my friends. The sun set—the sky became a bloody red. And I felt a touch of melancholy—I stood still, dead tired—over the blue-black fjord and city hung blood and tongues of fire. My friends walked on—I stayed behind—trembling with fright—I felt the great scream in nature.
The presentation will also include two paintings, The Storm and Melancholy, as well as eight of Munch’s woodcuts and lithographs. Among these are the black-and-white lithograph The Scream and his renowned Self-Portrait and Madonna, all from 1895. 2
Admission Information
Entry to Edvard Munch: The Scream is included in Museum admission. Museum admission is $25 adults; $18 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D.; and $14 full-time students with current I.D. Admission is free for MoMA members and all children 16 and under. Admission is free during Target Free Friday Nights, every Friday from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Daily admission tickets may be purchased in advance online at MoMA.org (no service charge), or in person in the Museum lobby on the day of the visit.
MoMA members and their guests will have automatic entry to Edvard Munch: The Scream at all times by presenting their membership cards at the entrance to the exhibition. Membership information is available at MoMA.org/membership.
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Public Information: The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY 10019, (212) 708-9400, MoMA.org. Hours: Wednesday through Monday, 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Friday, 10:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m. Closed Tuesday. Museum Admission: $25 adults; $18 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D.; $14 full-time students with current I.D. Free, members and children 16 and under. (Includes admittance to Museum galleries and film programs). MoMA.org: No service charge for tickets ordered on MoMA.org. Tickets purchased online may be printed out and presented at the Museum without waiting in line. (Includes admittance to Museum galleries and film programs). Film and After Hours Program Admission: $12 adults; $10 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D.; $8 full-time students with current I.D. The price of an After Hours Program Admission ticket may be applied toward the price of a Museum admission ticket or MoMA Membership within 30 days.
I was walking along the road with two of my friends. The sun set—the sky became a bloody red. And I felt a touch of melancholy—I stood still, dead tired—over the blue-black fjord and city hung blood and tongues of fire. My friends walked on—I stayed behind—trembling with fright—I felt the great scream in nature.
The presentation will also include two paintings, The Storm and Melancholy, as well as eight of Munch’s woodcuts and lithographs. Among these are the black-and-white lithograph The Scream and his renowned Self-Portrait and Madonna, all from 1895. 2
Admission Information
Entry to Edvard Munch: The Scream is included in Museum admission. Museum admission is $25 adults; $18 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D.; and $14 full-time students with current I.D. Admission is free for MoMA members and all children 16 and under. Admission is free during Target Free Friday Nights, every Friday from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Daily admission tickets may be purchased in advance online at MoMA.org (no service charge), or in person in the Museum lobby on the day of the visit.
MoMA members and their guests will have automatic entry to Edvard Munch: The Scream at all times by presenting their membership cards at the entrance to the exhibition. Membership information is available at MoMA.org/membership.
# # #
Public Information: The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53 Street, New York, NY 10019, (212) 708-9400, MoMA.org. Hours: Wednesday through Monday, 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Friday, 10:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m. Closed Tuesday. Museum Admission: $25 adults; $18 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D.; $14 full-time students with current I.D. Free, members and children 16 and under. (Includes admittance to Museum galleries and film programs). MoMA.org: No service charge for tickets ordered on MoMA.org. Tickets purchased online may be printed out and presented at the Museum without waiting in line. (Includes admittance to Museum galleries and film programs). Film and After Hours Program Admission: $12 adults; $10 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D.; $8 full-time students with current I.D. The price of an After Hours Program Admission ticket may be applied toward the price of a Museum admission ticket or MoMA Membership within 30 days.
