Edvard Munch wrote hidden 'madman' message on 'The Scream' - New York Post

Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” — an 1893 expressionist painting so famous it has its own emoji — contains a disturbing hidden message that art historians have now determined was written by the artist himself.

Guleng and her staff made the breakthrough discovery after comparing the handwriting in the inscription to the Norwegian artist’s diaries and letters.

“The handwriting itself, as well as events that happened in 1895, when Munch showed the painting in Norway for the first time, all point in the same direction.”.

The mysterious origins of the phrase help complete a sad picture: Munch created the painting, which has now become a universal symbol for mortal anxiety, just after his sister Laura was committed to an asylum with bipolar disorder

After Munch unveiled the painting, reactions centered on his own mental health, rather than the painting itself

The experts said it stands to reason that Munch wrote the “madman” inscription after struggling with the many critical reviews at the time