Edvard Munch’s The Scream: The Krakatoa Sky Was Real, the Inscription Was Self-Damning, and the $119.9M

May 21, 2026

Munch The Scream skateboard deck — DeckArts Berlin

Last updated: May 2026 · By Stanislav Arnautov · Berlin

Quick answer

Edvard Munch’s The Scream (1893, Nasjonalmuseet Oslo, 91×73.5 cm) depicts a figure on a bridge experiencing an attack of overwhelming anxiety under an orange sky that was real — the Krakatoa eruption’s atmospheric aftermath, visible from Scandinavia in 1883–84. Four versions exist. A hidden inscription reads “could only have been painted by a madman.” Sold for $119.9M in 2012. Single deck (~$140) on deep navy or near-black: the most emotionally confrontational DeckArts installation. From ~$140.

Edvard Munch (1863–1944) is the central figure of Norwegian Expressionism and the artist who most directly and most honestly depicted anxiety — not as a stylised emotional state but as a specific physical experience reported in his diary with meteorological precision. The Scream is the most globally reproduced image of anxiety in Western art, and it is a more specific and more honest image than its cultural saturation suggests: the orange sky was real, the experience was specific, and the inscription was self-damning. The primary version is at the Nasjonalmuseet in Oslo (opened 2022). DeckArts Berlin from ~$140.

The Krakatoa Sky: The Orange Was Real

Munch’s diary entry for January 22, 1892 describes the experience that produced The Scream: “I was walking along the road with friends — the sun was setting — suddenly the sky turned blood red — I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence — there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city — my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety — and I sensed an endless scream passing through nature.”

The blood-red and orange sky that Munch describes and depicts was not a subjective hallucination or a symbolic invention: it was a real atmospheric phenomenon that was visible across northern Europe, including Norway, in the years 1883–1884 following the catastrophic eruption of Krakatoa (Krakatau) in August 1883. The Krakatoa eruption was the largest volcanic event of the 19th century (the sound was heard as far as 4,800 km from the eruption site; the pressure wave circled the Earth seven times); the eruption injected approximately 25 cubic kilometres of volcanic ash and sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere, producing a global aerosol layer that caused vivid red and orange sunsets and afterglows across the northern hemisphere for approximately 18 months after the eruption.

Munch’s specific diary entry places the sky experience approximately 18 months after the Krakatoa eruption — consistent with the documented timeline of the aerosol layer’s most vivid sunset effects in Scandinavia. The orange sky in The Scream is a specific meteorological phenomenon that Munch personally observed, not a symbolic invention. The “blood and tongues of fire” he described are the specific chromatic qualities of a Krakatoa-aerosol sunset: the differential scattering of longer wavelengths (orange, red) by the volcanic aerosol particles produces the specific oversaturated orange-red sky that Munch depicts. This was confirmed by astrophysicist Fred Prata in a 2014 paper published in the journal Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics.

The Painting: What Munch Said About It

The Scream (Skrik, 1893, tempera and crayon on cardboard, 91 × 73.5 cm, Nasjonalmuseet Oslo) depicts a figure on the Oslofjord’s Ekeberg hill with two companions walking ahead on a railing-lined road. The central figure’s face is distorted into a screaming oval: the eyes are wide, the mouth is open, the skull-like head is oval and distorted by the waves of the surrounding atmosphere. The sky above the fjord is orange-red in convulsive waves; the fjord and the city below are blue-black in contrast.

The composition’s perspective structure: the diagonal railing creates a strong recession into the background space, leading the eye from the foreground figure backward to the two companions and the fjord beyond. The figure is positioned at the point where the railing’s recession begins — at the threshold between the deep space of the fjord and the shallow space of the immediate foreground. The two companions walk away, deeper into the recession; the screaming figure remains at the threshold, confronting the viewer.

Munch’s relationship to the figure: the figure in The Scream is a self-portrait — but not a conventional self-portrait. Munch wrote in his diary that he “stood trembling with anxiety” during the experience the painting depicts. The skull-like distortion of the face is not Munch’s literal appearance but an expression of the physical quality of the anxiety he felt: the experience of one’s own face as an object separated from one’s consciousness, seen from outside during extreme anxiety.

Munch’s Biography: Death, Illness, and the Frieze of Life

Edvard Munch was born in 1863 in Løten, Norway, and died in 1944 at his home outside Oslo, aged 80. His childhood was shaped by repeated family deaths: his mother died of tuberculosis when he was five; his sister Sophie died of tuberculosis when he was fourteen; his father died in 1889; another sister was institutionalised for mental illness. Munch wrote: “Illness, insanity and death were the black angels that kept watch over my cradle and accompanied me all my life.”

The Scream is part of Munch’s most ambitious project: The Frieze of Life, a planned cycle of paintings in four sections (The Awakening of Love, The Blossoming and Dissolution of Love, Fear of Life, and Death) that Munch worked on throughout his career and never fully completed to his own satisfaction. The Scream belongs to the Fear of Life section — the most psychologically extreme of the four.

Munch’s psychological health deteriorated significantly in the mid-1900s; he underwent a stay at a clinic in Copenhagen in 1908–1909 under the care of Dr. Daniel Jacobson. After the clinic, his work became more colourful and somewhat less psychologically extreme. He remained productive into his eighties; his late works include large-format studio paintings that are significantly different in scale and ambition from the small-format Norwegian Expressionist works of the 1890s. He bequeathed his entire estate — over 20,000 works, including all works in his possession — to the City of Oslo upon his death in 1944.

Four Versions: Pastel, Tempera, Lithograph, and the $119.9M

Munch produced four distinct versions of The Scream:

1893 — Pastel on cardboard (Munch Museum, Oslo): The first version, in pastel. Stolen from the Munch Museum in 2004, recovered in 2006. The theft (along with a simultaneous theft of Munch’s Madonna) was carried out in daylight by masked gunmen and produced an international art recovery operation.

1893 — Tempera and crayon on cardboard (Nasjonalmuseet, Oslo): The primary version, the most reproduced, the one most people are referring to when they say “The Scream.” Dimensions: 91 × 73.5 cm. Has been at the Nasjonalmuseet since 2022, when the museum moved to its new building on Bjørvika in Oslo.

1895 — Pastel on cardboard (private collection): This version was sold at Sotheby’s New York on 2 May 2012 for $119,922,500 (hammer price) — the highest price ever achieved for an Edvard Munch work at auction and one of the highest prices ever achieved for any work of art at public auction. The buyer was Leon Black, a New York private equity executive. The Guardian’s coverage of the 2012 sale provides full context.

c.1910 — Tempera on cardboard (Munch Museum, Oslo): A later version, slightly different composition from the 1893 works. At the Munch Museum in Oslo, which also moved to a new building (designed by Estudio Herreros) in 2021. The Munch Museum holds the largest collection of Munch’s works in the world.

The Hidden Inscription: “Could Only Have Been Painted by a Madman”

In 2021, researchers at the Nasjonalmuseet confirmed by infrared imaging that the primary 1893 tempera version of The Scream contains a hidden inscription written in pencil in Munch’s own handwriting: “Kan kun være malet af en gal Mand!” (“Can only have been painted by a madman!”). The inscription is in the painting’s upper-left corner, written at an angle, and is not visible to the naked eye under normal viewing conditions. Infrared imaging reveals it clearly.

The inscription was almost certainly written by Munch himself in response to a review or a comment that suggested the painting was the work of a disturbed mind. Munch’s self-damning ironic response — writing the accusation on the painting itself, in the corner — is simultaneously a defensive gesture and an admission: yes, this was painted by someone in extreme psychological distress; yes, that is the point; yes, the painting is honest about its own conditions of production.

The inscription’s confirmation in 2021 was covered internationally, including by the National Geographic and the BBC, because it resolved a scholarly debate about whether the inscription was by Munch or by a later viewer. The infrared analysis of the handwriting confirmed it was Munch’s hand.

The Nasjonalmuseet: Oslo Since 2022

The primary 1893 tempera version of The Scream moved to the new Nasjonalmuseet building in Bjørvika, Oslo, which opened in June 2022 as the largest art museum in the Nordic countries. The new Nasjonalmuseet (designed by Kleihues + Schuwerk) has a dedicated permanent gallery for The Scream, with specific lighting, climate control, and a dedicated viewing arrangement. The Nasjonalmuseet’s collection page for The Scream includes high-resolution photography and scholarship.

The Scream on a Skateboard Deck: Honest Rather Than Decorative Anxiety

The Scream has become, through decades of cultural saturation (the Home Alone poster face, the emoji, the Halloween mask, the Warhol silkscreen series), primarily a cultural symbol of generic anxiety — instantly recognisable, instantly legible as “overwhelmed,” and largely emptied of its specific biographical and meteorological content. The DeckArts single deck installation is an opportunity to restore the work’s specific biographical content: the Krakatoa sky that was real, the personal experience that was documented in a diary, the hidden self-damning inscription that was written by the artist’s own hand.

For a dark academia study or bedroom: The Scream single deck (~$140) on deep navy or near-black is the most emotionally confrontational DeckArts installation — not because of the generic anxiety symbol but because of the specific honest content: this is what a real cosmological event (Krakatoa, 1883) looked like to a specific person (Munch, January 22, 1892) who was already carrying a specific biographical weight of loss (mother dead at 5, sister dead at 14, another sister institutionalised). The confrontation is not generic; it is historically specific and personally documented.

Room-by-Room Installation Guide

Dark academia bedroom (beside or above bed): Single deck (~$140) on deep navy or near-black. The honest rather than decorative anxiety: the Krakatoa sky above the nocturnal space. At bedside at 115–135 cm centre height: close-range encounter with the specific distorted face at the specific moment of overwhelming. See: Skateboard Wall Art for a Bedroom.

Dark academia study (facing desk): Single deck (~$140) on forest green or warm charcoal at 125–145 cm centre height (seated viewing). The Scream facing the person at the desk: the specific experience of being overwhelmed by what you cannot process, at the desk where processing is the programme. Most confrontational home office installation. See: Skateboard Wall Art for a Home Office.

Dark academia living room (gallery wall): Single deck (~$140) as one element of the dark academia gallery wall — the Paralysis Programme: Dürer Melencolia I + Munch Scream + Hokusai Great Wave diptych. Three responses to the overwhelming: paralysis, confrontation, sustained practice. See: Skateboard Wall Art for Dark Academia: Gallery Programmes.

Edvard Munch — The Scream (~$140)

Krakatoa sky · hidden inscription · deep navy or near-black · dark academia · UV archival 100+ years · Canadian maple · ships Berlin

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FAQ

Why is The Scream sky orange?

The orange sky in The Scream was a real atmospheric phenomenon: the afterglow of the Krakatoa eruption (August 1883), which injected approximately 25 cubic kilometres of volcanic ash and SO₂ into the stratosphere. The aerosol layer scattered longer wavelengths (orange, red) preferentially, producing vivid orange-red sunsets across the northern hemisphere for approximately 18 months. Munch’s diary entry (January 22, 1892) describes “blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord” — consistent with documented Krakatoa aerosol sunset effects in Scandinavia. Confirmed by astrophysicist Fred Prata in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (2014). DeckArts from ~$140.

How many versions of The Scream exist?

Four versions: 1893 pastel (Munch Museum Oslo — stolen 2004, recovered 2006); 1893 tempera on cardboard (Nasjonalmuseet Oslo — primary version, most reproduced, hidden inscription confirmed 2021); 1895 pastel (private collection — sold Sotheby’s 2012 for $119.9M to Leon Black); c.1910 tempera (Munch Museum Oslo). DeckArts reproduces the 1893 tempera version. Nasjonalmuseet collection page. From ~$140.

What does the inscription on The Scream say?

“Kan kun være malet af en gal Mand!” (“Can only have been painted by a madman!”) — written in pencil in Munch’s own handwriting in the upper-left corner of the 1893 tempera version. Not visible to the naked eye; confirmed by infrared imaging in 2021 by Nasjonalmuseet researchers. Almost certainly Munch’s ironic self-damning response to a review or comment suggesting the painting was the work of a disturbed mind. Covered by National Geographic and BBC in 2021. DeckArts from ~$140.

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Article Summary

Munch The Scream: Skrik 1893, tempera and crayon on cardboard, 91×73.5 cm, Nasjonalmuseet Oslo (new building 2022). Krakatoa sky: Krakatoa August 1883, 25 km³ SO₂ and ash into stratosphere, aerosol layer scattered orange-red wavelengths for ~18 months; Munch diary Jan 22 1892 “blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord”; confirmed astrophysicist Fred Prata 2014 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. Munch biography: born 1863 Løten, mother died tuberculosis age 5, sister Sophie died tuberculosis age 14, father died 1889, another sister institutionalised; “Illness, insanity and death were the black angels”; Frieze of Life project; clinic Copenhagen 1908–1909; bequeathed 20,000+ works to Oslo on death 1944. Four versions: 1893 pastel Munch Museum (stolen 2004, recovered 2006); 1893 tempera Nasjonalmuseet (primary, hidden inscription); 1895 pastel private collection ($119.9M Sotheby’s 2012, Leon Black); c.1910 tempera Munch Museum. Hidden inscription: 2021 infrared confirmation by Nasjonalmuseet; “Can only have been painted by a madman!” in Munch’s hand, upper-left corner; ironic self-damning response to criticism; National Geographic and BBC coverage. On deck: restores specific content (real Krakatoa sky, documented diary, hidden self-inscription) vs generic cultural anxiety symbol (emoji, Halloween mask). Installation: dark academia bedroom (bedside 115–135 cm, honest anxiety); study facing desk (125–145 cm, overwhelming at work); gallery wall (Paralysis Programme: Melencolia I + Scream + Great Wave). DeckArts from ~$140. Canadian maple. UV archival 100+ years. Berlin. 30-day return.