The works of art have always caught my attention, but much more the lives of its artists. Yes OK it's not my cup of tea (art is not my thing) as they say in English, I find an interesting relationship, today, between the lives of the great painters in history, their works and psychology.
When studying Freud a few years ago, I came across a very interesting term: sublimation, which I have almost automatically related to art. However, What is sublimation? According to Freud, it is one of the destinations of the drive linked if you want to social recognition. In other words, sublimating is the way in which human beings can channel and transform their miseries into something more creative such as art ... Freud maintains that our culture is built on the suffocation of drives.
However, it is not a repression but a transformation that will lead to something socially esteemed, such as a painting. Among the works that have aroused my curiosity in recent times are The Scream (1893) by Edvard Munch and THE STARRY NIGHT (1889) by Vincent Van Gogh.
In this article, I invite you to immerse yourself in the life of the Norwegian Edvard Munch who did not expect to reach adulthood but who nevertheless died when he was 81 years old and in his masterpiece The Scream, which today has become a symbol world of heartbreak.
Edvard Munch had what would be called a very difficult childhood. When he was only 5 years old, he witnessed the death of his mother who died of tuberculosis. Tuberculosis marked his life ... His sister Sophie also died of this disease when she was 15 years old and Edvard himself suffered from it throughout his life with periods of aggravation.
Not only tuberculosis marked his life but also madness ... His father was a military doctor, very severe and dominated by religious obsessions. His sister Laura was admitted to a mental institution and Edvard Munch himself oscillated between some mental imbalances and alcohol. He was admitted to a mental hospital although he recognized these psychological problems as the basis of his talent, of his genius ...
"Sickness, madness and death were the black angels that watched over my cradle" ever wrote ...
If we look at his work El Grito, we see a male figure ... The question is: is he really screaming? And if not ... Who is screaming? Munch himself said that he was walking with friends when the sky turned blood red: "I was paralyzed, trembling with anxiety, and felt that an infinite scream passed through nature." And if it crossed nature then it would also cross him ... We could therefore say that this figure is the personification of that cry ...
Experts who know Oslo, the backdrop to this painting, effectively argued that heartbreaking screams could be heard there at that time from a nearby slaughterhouse and also from patients who were in a psychiatric asylum or perhaps both at the same time ...
The Norwegian Edvard Munch had unknowingly achieved something incredible, he had managed to paint a sound and represent the anxiety and anguish of modern man in his masterpiece The Scream ...
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