The Scream
was briefly put on show shortly
after its recovery, before undergoing nearly two
years of patient repairs. It was a delicate process,
complicated by the fact that Munch had painted
The Scream
on cardboard.
“
We stopped at the level of preservation,” says
Topalova-Casadiego. “We didn’t retouch anything.
Cardboard is harder to work with than canvas and
the cardboard that Munch painted
The Scream
on
is very thick, so you can’t access the painting from
the back. So some water damage was irreversible,
unfortunately, and is still visible – but we were
worried that if we tried to do something about it,
there was a danger of making it worse.”
It’s been back on permanent display in the
Munch Museum since 2008, but if any other
budding art thieves are tempted, stealing
The
Scream
would be rather more of a challenge
today than it was in 2004. By the estimation of
Trygve Lauritzen, the Munch Museum’s head of
security since 2010, NOK40 million has been spent
on ensuring that
The Scream
stays where it is.
Visitors are now screened as if they were boarding
an aircraft; a sluice-style gate controls the flow
of people in and out of the painting’s sanctuary;
cameras record everything – and, cautions
Lauritzen, “there are other measures that we don’t
talk about.”
But while
The Scream
is now safer than it
was, Munch’s anguished protagonist will always
have some reason to be nervous. “There are
some thieves who are drawn to the spectacular,”
says Julian Radcliffe at the Art Loss Register,
“
whether that’s out of ego, bravado, even a sense of
professional pride.”
“
Criminals do their risk analysis like everyone
else,” says Munch security chief Lauritzen. “If they
think it looks too hard, they’ll go somewhere else
–
and the visual effect of the cameras and X-Ray
machines, and metal detectors is very positive
in that respect. But you can never be sure about
anything in this world. It’s not likely and it would
be difficult, but you never know.”
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“
Criminals do their risk analysis like
everyone else. If they think it looks
too hard, they’ll go somewhere else”
Want more
Munch?
A few highlights of
Munch 150, a year of
events celebrating the
150
th anniversary of
Edvard Munch’s birth
Munch!
Stockholm, until 12 May
The Thielska Gallery
hosts a major exhibition
of Munch’s work from
1880
to 1910. Paintings
include
Despair
,
The
Sick Child
and a portrait
of Friedrich Nietzsche.
Edvard Munch’s
Mothers
Fredrikstad, 1 June
Documentary premiere
about Laura Catherine
Munch, Edvard’s mother
who died of tuberculosis
when he was a child,
and her sister Karen
Bjølstad, who raised the
young artist and helped
nurture his talent.
Munch | Warhol
New York, until 27 July
The American-
Scandinavian Foundation
brings together two
of the most influential
artists of the 20th
century. Lithographic
works by Munch will be
exhibited alongside the
Warhol screen prints
they inspired.
munch150.no
GET T Y, THE SCREAM & MADONNA - MUNCH MUSEUM MUNCH ELLINGSEN GRUPPEN BONO 2011
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