The Scream (After Munch)
Medium: Screen-print in colors on Lenox Museum Board
Year: 1984
Sheet: 40×32 inches (101.6 x 81.3 cm)
Edition: Small number of unique impressions
The Scream, based on Edvard Munch’s 1893-95 lithograph, commissioned as an edition print was never published
Printer: Rupert Jasen Smith, New-York
Literature: Feldman & Schellmann IIIA.58
Andy Warhol’s reinterpretation of the work of Edvard Munch was part of a wider venture in his final decade that saw him appropriate the work of de Chirico, Picasso, Cranach, Leonardo and Raphael. However, it is his engagement with Edvard Munch that has resonated most strongly with collectors and critics in the decades since. At first glance, the twentieth century icons appear worlds apart. A close consideration of Andy Warhol’s After Munch series, however, reveals that the Pop pioneer and his printmaking predecessor were, surprisingly, kindred spirits. Edvard Munch’s oeuvre was shaped by many of the same philosophical preoccupations which would later define Warhol. Also, both artists advocated use of color and repetition as a means of exploring psychological and emotional complexities.
Warhol began reflecting on art history as early as 1963 by reproducing its most ubiquitous image of Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa in a series of paintings, however, it wasn’t until 1973 that Warhol first encountered Munch’s prints during a tour of Oslo. There he developed an affinity for the painter-printmaker’s experimental woodcuts and lithographs at the National Gallery and Munch Museet. Dazzled by Munch’s woodcuts and lithographs, Warhol began collecting his prints immediately. The two artists reunited in New York a decade later when Warhol fatefully happened upon a Munch retrospective at Galleri Bellman just minutes away from Warhol Enterprises. Impressed by the 126 paintings and graphic works on view, Warhol returned to Bellman repeatedly, especially captivated by the Norwegian’s experimental prints. Bellman eventually commissioned their frequent visitor to create 15 paintings after Munch artworks of his choice.
Warhol elected to emulate four of Munch’s best-known lithographs (it is noteworthy that Warhol choose the printed medium rather than the paintings), re-interpreting them on canvas for the series Art from Art: The Scream, The Brooch. Eva Mudocci, Madonna, and Self-Portrait. Delighted with Warhol’s results, Galleri Bellman then proposed that he collaborate with the renowned printer Rupert Jasen Smith to create After Munch screenprint portfolios in a similar Pop-infused vein. Warhol was meant to create an edition of 180 portfolios, each comprising three screen-prints, plus 36 artist’s proofs. The project was halted, however, when the gallery closed unexpectedly, leaving the artist with an unknown number of trial proofs in unique colors.
The iconic Scream stands out as the most imminently recognizable images of art historical importance. The subject is an expression of the ‘great, ceaseless scream passing through nature’, and considered the most profound representation of man’s existential angst. Just as he did in Race Riots, Electric Chairs and Death and Disaster series, Warhol ignores the emotional content, and concentrated instead on the work as a symbol of popular culture. Just as Marcel Duchamp and Warhol himself has done with Mona Lisa, he made the most famous expressionist painting his own. In a move of postmodern brilliance, Warhol mastered the screen-printing technique and use of color to present the viewer with an advanced interpretation of the human condition of the twentieth century. In the present work, the deep grey sky coupled with the pink and peach water, contrasted with the bright red outlines and overpowering, ghastly green figure are fantastic. We experience a vivid scene, a glimpse of Warhol’s perception of the world, filled with synthetic color, psychedelic revelry, but ultimately lonely. A compellingly apt metaphor for a world turned upside down. Quintessential Warhol.
Auction Results
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 October 2021
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 277,200
ANDY WARHOL
The Scream (After Munch) (Feldman & Schellmann IIIA.58), 1984
Screen-print in a unique color combination on Lenox Museum Board
40×36 inches (101.6 x 91.4 cm)
From a small unpublished edition of unique color variants
With the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts inkstamps
Annotated ‘UP34.34’ and ‘VF’ in pencil on the verso
Artnet Auctions: 15 July 2020
Estimated: USD 300,000 – 500,000
USD 336,000
ANDY WARHOL
The Scream (After Munch), 1984
Unique screenprint in colors on Lenox Museum Board
Stamped with the Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board Inc. and The Estate of Andy Warhol stamps
With the unique reference number ‘UP 34.23’ in pencil on the reverse
Sotheby’s London: 26 March 2019
Estimated: GBP 150,000 – 200,000
GBP 325,000
ANDY WARHOL
The Scream (After Munch) (F. & S. IIIA.58), 1984
Screen-print in a unique combination of colors on Lenox Museum Board
From a small unpublished edition of unique color variants
39 3/4 x 32 inches (101.2 x 81.2 cm)
With the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts inkstamps verso Annotated ‘UP34.21’ and ‘VF’ in pencil verso
Christie’s New-York: 24 October 2018
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 250,000
ANDY WARHOL
The Scream (After Munch), 1984
Unique screen-print in colors on Lenox Museum Board
39.9 x 32 inches (101.3 x 81.3 cm)
One of a small number of unique impressions, the proposed edition was never realized
With the ‘Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board’ and ‘The Estate of Andy Warhol’ ink stamps
Annotated ‘UP34.11’ in pencil on the reverse
Sotheby’s London: 26 September 2018
Estimated: GBP 150,000 – 200,000
GBP 382,000
ANDY WARHOL
The Scream (After Munch) (F. & S. IIIA.58), 1984
Screen-print in a unique combination of colors
40×32 inches (101.5 x 81.2 cm)
With the Estate of Andy Warhol and the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts ink stamps verso Annotated ‘UP34.31’ and ‘VF’ in pencil verso
From a small unpublished edition of unique color variants
Christie’s New-York: 19 April 2018
Estimated: USD 250,000 – 350,000
USD 275,000
ANDY WARHOL (1928-1987)
The Scream (After Munch), 1984
Unique screen-print in colors, on Lenox Museum Board
One of a small number of unique impressions
With the ‘The Estate of Andy Warhol’ and ‘Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board’ inkstamps
Annotated ‘UP 34.24’ in pencil on the reverse