Art of the 20th Century: The Scream and Madonna by Edvard Munch

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Art of the 20th Century
Over the years, there have been several iconic paintings that have represented the picture of our time. Edward Munch, a Norwegian painter, lived a joyous life that was depicted in his paintings. He spent most of his free time drawing and loved the artwork. The expressionist painter becomes one of the famous painters due to his work accomplishing several artworks. Some of Munch's works include "The Scream" and "Madonna" paintings. The Scream is a familiar image in modern art that is stemmed from a panic attack that Munch experienced in 1892, while Madonna shows a naked woman who owns her sexuality, making love. This paper reflects on the comparison between the two paintings.
Both The Scream and Madonna are paintings of anxiety. Madonna shows a woman holding her kid to her chest, giving an anguish look on her face. The dark background adds the overall feeling of despair in the painting (Kerlinger n.p). The anxiety resulted from a lack of understanding of knowledge across the female's psychological, emotional, and biological needs. Conversely, The Scream also shows Munch in his period of high anxiety. He painted this artwork due to the trauma and mental illness he had experienced (Kerlinger n.p). Furthermore, he tried to rationalize and describe his suffering in the process of painting. The red Scream in the Scream painting represents the Krakatoa volcano eruption that caused massive noise that was heard several miles away. Thus, it is evident that both artworks represent paintings of anxiety.
The Scream and Madonna paintings have continued to play a significant role in society. The Scream has become a symbol of activism (Abeza n.p). Besides, this artwork has inspired several artworks, from ecological responsiveness and climate change to nuclear production (Abeza n.p). Different emoji have also been derived from the painting representing p...