The Scream

In August 1883 the volcano Krakatoa erupted in Indonesia. Its ash entered the upper atmosphere and travelled around the planet; for nearly two years afterwards, sunsets across northern Europe blazed an extraordinary blood red. Munch was a teenager in Kristiania (modern Oslo) during those years. Walking home with two friends a decade later he wrote in his diary: "Suddenly the sky became blood." The figure on the bridge is not the screamer. The scream is in the sky. Now at National Museum of Norway, Oslo @nasjonalmuseet