SCREAM!

Apparently, this past Sunday thieves stole one of Edvard Munch's "The Scream" paintings (as well as his "Madonna" painting) from the Munch Museum in Norway.



Yesterday, in respect, NPR had one of their ever-witty little All Things Considered radio-blurbs discussing the ever-elusive topic of WHY the subject of "The Scream" is in fact screaming.

Some speculate that the screamer is screaming at something out of view of the rest of us, that his horror lies in what is not painted. Others' claim that he is not in fact screaming himself, but is gasping reflexively in terror at another person's scream. Some say that he is nothing more than a symbol of despair. Still others wonder if he is in fact intended to be our reflection, symbolizing our OWN horror and despair reflected back at us like a mirror.

In a lot of ways, "The Scream" is a touchstone--how we choose to interpret it may give us more light into OURSELVES and our outlook on the world then it does into the painter and his intentions.

That being said, I believe that the subject of "The Scream" is NOT screaming in terror at any of these things, but at the third dimension, at what lies beyond the four walls of his little painting, at what it means to be on the other side, animate, beyond a painter's construct, three-dimensional, looking in upon him.

There is much to wail about.

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