There’s a certain irony to Edvard Munch’s fame — that despite being one of the most prolific artists of the 19th and 20th centuries, he is known globally for a single image. Even those of us who don’t know who Munch was have probably seen The Scream replicated or at least parodied somewhere. From screaming cats to Jokers, The Scream is resonant for its universality.
As one New Yorker article cleverly put it, we all scream. Or more aptly, we all long for the release, though we seldom allow ourselves the true freedom of an actual howl.