How Many Versions of The Scream Are There?
There are four unique versions of The Scream that Munch made by hand, two in paint and two in pastel, plus a black and white lithograph he printed in many copies.
So there is no single Scream. There is a small family of them, scattered between museums and one private owner.
Here is each one, and the surprising fact about which version actually made it famous.
The versions at a glance
Hand made versions: four, two paintings and two pastels.
Plus: a lithograph, printed in many copies.
The famous one: the 1893 painted version, National Museum, Oslo.
In private hands: one 1895 pastel.
Record: that pastel sold for about 120 million dollars in 2012.
The four hand made versions
Munch made the first and most famous version in 1893. It hangs in the National Museum in Oslo, and it is the one carrying his hidden madman inscription.
There is a second 1893 version in pastel, a 1895 pastel now in private hands, and a later painted version from around 1910 in the Munch Museum. They differ in color, medium and mood, but the pose is always the same. The famous one is shown here.
The print that made it famous
Here is the twist. The version that turned The Scream into a worldwide icon was not a painting at all.
In 1895 Munch cut the image into a stone and made a black and white lithograph. Cheap to reproduce, it was printed in magazines and pulled in dozens of copies while he was alive. The print, not the paintings, spread the image across the world.
Why he made so many
Munch did not see a finished painting as the end. He reworked his strongest images over and over, the same way he repeated Madonna and The Sick Child.
Remaking The Scream let him keep the feeling alive, reach new buyers and spread it further. It is the habit of an artist obsessed with a handful of motifs, explained in Edvard Munch: The Complete Story.
The record breaking pastel
The only version in private hands is the 1895 pastel.
When it came up at auction in 2012, it sold for around 120 million dollars, at the time the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction. Two of the others have also been stolen and recovered.
FAQ about the versions of The Scream
How many versions are there? Four unique ones, plus a lithograph.
Which is the famous one? The 1893 painted version in the National Museum, Oslo.
Are they all in Oslo? Three are. One pastel is privately owned.
Did one sell at auction? Yes, the 1895 pastel, for about 120 million dollars in 2012.
Why did Munch make several? He reworked his key images and wanted to spread them.
He went viral before the word existed
The version that made The Scream a global symbol was the cheap black and white print Munch pulled from a stone in 1895.
It was reproduced in magazines while he was still alive. Munch went viral more than a century before anyone had the word for it.