A Scream Is Recovered And A Madonna Found

The Norwegian police, under Iver Stensrud, head of the police investigation, reported the recovery of two Edvard Munch paintings Thursday. The Scream and Madonna were stolen two years ago from a museum in Oslo. Blogcritics' Shark reported on the crime in "Munch's 'The Scream' Stolen From Museum." At the time, two thieves dressed in black walked into the relatively unsecured museum, threatened guards with guns, and pulled the paintings from the wall. They walked out to their car and left. There is even a photo of them leaving with the canvases.

Mr. Stensrud reported, "The pictures came into our hands this afternoon after a successful police action. All that remains is an expert examination to confirm with 100% certainty, that these are the original paintings. We believe these are the originals."

Edvard Munch turned the existential cry of pain for all the ills and tragedies of the world into a masterpiece of painting. It has both the abstracted feeling of the cry in its color, the figure heavy with emotional baggage, and the frame centered in a way so modern and so direct, as well as the literal reality of the cry that wells up from the pit of our collective stomachs as we recognize the world and its madnesses for what it is. It is a masterpiece in that it stands alone, bravely facing the viewers.

Madonna by Edvard Munch, the other stolen work.

If our world were civilized — and this is yet another proof that it is far from it — the masterpieces of painting, sculpture from all ages, photography, music, and writing would be sacrosanct. They would be known as the glue that maintains the fabric of civilization. They would be understood to be the best that man has to offer for his thousands of years of trying to control the earth. We have not controlled it nor has it controlled our nonsensical attacks on that (art) which is closest to the creator — if, indeed, there is one.

The paintings were part of Munch's Frieze of Life series, focusing on sickness, death, anxiety, and love. Munch died in 1944 at the age of 80. In The Scream, the subject cries and he is us.

In 2004, the BBC archives reports, "Two masked men enter through the museum cafe. One man holds staff and visitors at gunpoint. The other man goes to the gallery and tears the Scream and Madonna from the walls. The two men make their escape, fleeing in a black Audi."

Article Author: Howard Dratch

Howard writes on science, books, movies and news for Blogcritics and on his own blogs from the border of North and Central America.

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