The story behind this painting is very interesting, though. The artist’s mother was very sick, so the house was always filled a suffocating silence. This painting depicts him wanting to scream, but having to be silent, hence the anguished expression. In the whole painting you see figures in the background, one of which is his sister.
by the time Edvard Munch painted The Scream, his mother (as well as one of his sisters) had died from tuberculosis. his father passed from a heart condition and his other sister was admitted into an insane asylum. while some people think this painting is a self portrait, it is lead to be believed that it is a combination of both Munch and his sick sister whose asylum was located near the environment of the painting.
some choose to believe that The Scream depicts the sounds coming from the local asylum while others think it depicts the psychological turmoil of dealing with insanity. either way, it is a truly haunting piece.
