Munch's "Scream" becomes quieter: Why the famous painting is losing color

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

One of the most mystical works of art, with which many ambiguous stories are associated, still continues to interest not only professional art critics, but also ordinary people. The image from the picture, which cannot even be called a person, but rather an entity, is so replicated that it is recognizable even by those who are far from fine art. However, not everyone knows that "The Scream" is a cycle of paintings, moreover, dedicated to quite lofty values: love, life and death. Now another feature has opened up that spurred interest in her. Scientists who examined paint samples, however, all exhibits of the world classics are subjected to such a procedure, came to the conclusion that the painting loses its color.

There are about forty paintings in total. After the first presentation to the public, "The Scream" caused a real storm of emotions. Yes, such that the noble audience of the Berlin exhibition staged a pogrom, because the image on the canvas seemed terrible to them. The picture was painted a hundred years ago, during which time it has repeatedly proved its negative peculiarity, in every possible way sabotaging those who dropped it or tried to take possession of it.

Science in the interest of art

One way or another, any work of art, even if it was kept carefully and in appropriate conditions, suffers from time and can change its original color. Therefore, more and more often, scientists come to the aid of art critics, who, using modern technologies and laboratory research, determine what the original color of the work was. In addition, only certain colors often change the shade, others remain unchanged. For example, it has long been known that on Van Gogh's canvases, yellowness began to turn brown, and blue turns into purple. However, Munch's palette is less studied, so the contribution of scientists in this area has yet to be made.

In order to determine which areas have begun to fade, x-rays, a laser beam and an electron microscope are used. Obviously, the yellow and orange elements have become whitish, ivory.

Work on the canvas has been going on since 2012, it was stolen in 2004 and restored two years later. The work that is being carried out on the creation of the artist will help not only tell the story of the color and restore the original appearance of the legendary painting, but also prevent further changes.

Features of fading of the famous painting by Munch

It is now known that the surface of a painting, when viewed through a microscope, resembles stalagmites. It is these crystals that grow on the surface of the canvas of the picture, and contribute to the change in the original shade. There are especially many of them near the mouth of the entity, in the sky and water.

When it was determined that the problem was in the yellow and orange colors, the Munch Museum attracted Dr. Jennifer Mass to the work, she has experience in this area, and it is when working with yellow. In particular, she has already encountered yellow cadmium in the works of Henri Matisse. That is why her participation was so necessary. In addition, Dr. Mass owns an excellent laboratory where you can carry out all the necessary research. The Munch Museum plans to move to another building, new studies of the canvas should determine how to do this in the most optimal way to preserve the painting.

Pictures wither like flowers …

Tubes of the artist's paint made a great contribution to the study of the cause of the "Scream" fading, almost fifteen hundred of them are in his museum. As expected, over time, the yellow camdium sulfide oxidized to two white chemical compounds in color. But that's not all, according to researchers, such problems can be found in the Impressionists and Expressionists who worked between 1880-1920.

It was the junction of these centuries, marked by changes in technology in the manufacture of paints, that became disastrous for many works of art. Alas, the industrial leap forward had a negative impact on the fine arts. Previously, artists worked with paints made from plants, insects or minerals. However, with the advent of synthetic dyes, which are more affordable, the need for this has disappeared. In addition, the range of colors expanded, which pushed artists to new experiments, they mixed different paints with oils and fillers, of course, without thinking about how this would affect the longevity of their canvases. This is a period of experimenting with colors and abandoning the academic style.

How modern technologies will be used to recreate paintings

Pigments of the 20th century became unpredictable, moreover, the expressionists gave free rein to their imagination and one cannot be sure that on their canvas the sky will be blue and the tree will be green. That is why, first of all, the stake is placed on science. At the same time, the reenactors emphasize that even after the original shades of the "Scream" have been fully recreated, no changes will be made to the canvases. Rather, it will become an additional digital opportunity. Simply put - you can point your smartphone at the picture and see how it looked initially, in the source code.

That is why the painstaking work on the painting "The Scream" is only the tip of the iceberg, which should facilitate the recreation of other, lesser-known works of this period, which also faced this problem. After identifying the general patterns of changes in the color of the pigment orange and yellow among the expressionists of this period, it will become clear how much damage time brings to their canvases.

If now art, organic chemistry and physics form a triune union, then earlier, the last word remained with art critics. However, the identified forgeries still proved that scientific work in this area is also extremely important. Now their role is increasing.

It is also possible that the artists deliberately used brighter shades, assuming that over time they will fade. Maybe Munch, creating "The Scream", believed that the sky would turn white, making the sunset softer. For example, Van Gogh was aware that new pigments tend to fade relatively quickly. In a letter to his brother, he wrote that new colors can be used boldly and roughly, because time will soften it.

All this gives reason to think that works of art, like flowers, are tied in buds, bloom and, unfortunately, wither. However, modern science and art are on guard so as not to lose the heritage. Alas, this does not always work out, 10 Lost Masterpieces That Could Raise Their Creators' Reputation to "Genius", almost disappeared without a trace.