Why is "The Scream" screaming? - Noah Charney

譯者: Spencer Tse 審譯者: 麗玲 辛

An undulating sky melds into the landscape,

波浪的天空融合在風景中，

two silhouettes move along a balustraded walkway,

兩個剪影沿著有欄杆的步道移動，

and a ghostly figure’s features extend in agony.

一個像幽靈的人物， 五官因痛苦而拉長。

Since Norwegian artist Edvard Munch created “The Scream” in 1893,

自挪威藝術家愛德華·孟克於 1893 年創作《吶喊》以來，

it’s become one of the world’s most famous artworks.

它已成為世界上 最著名的藝術作品之一。

But why has its cry traveled so far and endured so long?

但是，為什麼它的呼喊 傳得這麼遠，而且持續如此久？

Munch was born in 1863, one of five children.

孟克出生於 1863 年， 家裡有五個孩子。

Tuberculosis devastated Europe throughout the 1800s,

結核病在 1800 年代 襲擊全歐洲，

killing almost a quarter of all adults.

殺死了近四分之一的成年人。

It took Munch’s mother’s life, then his elder sister’s.

它奪走了孟克的母親和姐姐的生命。

Soon after, Munch had his own bout of the disease.

不久之後，孟克自己也得了結核病。

Another of his sisters experienced mental illness

他的另一個姐妹則患有精神疾病。

and lived much of her life in an institution.

並在一個精神病醫院中 度過了她的大半生。

Meanwhile, Munch flitted in and out of school due to illness,

與此同時，孟克因病而無法定期上學，

often spending days at home,

經常留在家裡，

drawing and listening to the ominous stories his father read aloud.

畫畫和聽他父親朗讀恐怖的故事。

A devout Lutheran, his father considered Munch’s artistic ambitions unholy.

他父親是一位虔誠的路德教徒， 認為孟克的藝術志向並不純潔。

“I inherited the seeds of madness,” Munch wrote.

「我繼承了瘋狂的種子，」孟克寫道。

“The angels of fear, sorrow, and death stood by my side

「從我出生的那天起，

恐懼、悲傷和死亡的天使 就站在我身邊。」

since the day I was born.”

Eventually, Munch moved to Berlin, where he frequented creative circles

最後，孟克搬到柏林， 在那裡他經常出入藝術圈，

committed to breaking with academic tradition

致力於打破學術傳統，

and instead developing their crafts organically.

而用自己的情緒去探討藝術。

While Munch had trained classically,

雖然孟克曾受到傳統的訓練方式，

he began immersing himself in what he called “soul painting”—

但他開始沉浸於他所稱 「靈魂繪畫」的方式，

compositions that prized raw, subjective affect over realistic rendering.

與現實的描述相比，他的作品 更重視原始的、主觀的情感。

“It’s not the chair that should be painted,” he wrote,

「應該畫的不是椅子，」他寫道，

“but what a person has felt at the sight of it.”

「而是一個人看到它時的感受。」

Many of Munch’s works dealt with personal suffering.

孟克的許多作品都涉及個人痛苦。

This may have also led to what certain critics observed

某些評論家認為這些痛苦 可能導致孟克在作品中

as unsympathetic portrayals of women

將女性描繪成冷漠、殘忍的掠奪者， 而倒楣的男士是受害者。

in works where Munch represented them as cruel predators victimizing hapless men.

And death often haunted Munch’s compositions—

死亡經常在孟克的作品出沒，

from a skeleton helming a boat to a morbid self-portrait

從一艘骷髏駕駛的船，病態的自畫像，

and his sister's final moments to a mother on her deathbed,

他姐姐的臨終時刻， 到病床上的一位將死的母親，

her child assuming a now-familiar expression.

她的孩子呈現了我們現在熟悉的表情。

Munch’s art generated controversy—

孟克的藝術引發了爭議，

some critics characterizing him as “absolutely demented”—

一些評論家形容他「絕對精神錯亂」，

but it also drew acclaim.

但它也吸引了讚譽。

And what would become his most famous work was just around the corner.

而他最著名的作品即將問世。

“The Scream” was inspired by a moment that overwhelmed Munch

《吶喊》的靈感來自 某一時刻孟克感受到劇烈的痛苦。

with an acute sense of anguish.

In a diary entry marked January 22nd, 1892,

在某篇標記 1892 年 1月 22 日的日記中，

Munch described walking with two friends along a fjord

孟克描述了與兩個朋友 一起沿著峽灣漫步，

overlooking what’s now Oslo at sunset.

俯瞰奧斯陸的日落。

He leaned against a fence, exhausted, as he saw the sky change suddenly.

他疲倦地靠在圍欄上， 突然看到天色變化。

He described “blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city.”

他描述：「藍黑峽灣和 城市上方有著血紅色的火舌」。

As his friends walked on, Munch wrote, “I stood there trembling with anxiety—

他的朋友繼續前行，孟克寫道： 「我站在那裡，焦慮地發抖著，

and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.”

我感覺到一聲極大的吶喊 劃過自然景色。」

As with other painful experiences, Munch revisited the scene repeatedly.

與其他痛苦的經歷一樣， 孟克多次重新回顧了這場景。

First, he depicted it with a more recognizably human subject.

剛開始，他用較易識別的人形 去描繪那個場景。

But the following year, he surrendered it to dramatic, abstracted symbolism,

接下來的一年，他將這個情境 放入更多戲劇性、抽象的意義。

the haunting expression on the figure’s skull-like face

這個像骷髏般的臉和令人難忘的表情，

meeting the viewer’s gaze directly.

直接與觀眾的注視接觸。

On this first version, he added a subtle, wry inscription:

在第一個版本上，他添加了 隱晦而怪異的題詞：

“Could only have been painted by a madman!”

「只能是由一個瘋子繪製的！」

Based on Munch’s account, many think the figure isn’t emitting the shriek

根據孟克的說法，許多人 認為這個人物不是正在尖叫，

but reacting to it.

而是對那尖叫做出的反應。

Munch eventually made four versions of “The Scream”—

孟克最終製作了四個版本的《吶喊》，

all on cardboard, two with pastel, two with paint—

全都在紙板上， 兩個用粉彩，兩個用油彩，

and he created numerous prints and lithographs.

並創作了許多版畫和石版畫。

The year following the first “Scream,” he depicted the same setting

第一個《吶喊》後一年， 他描繪了同樣的場景，

but featured a collection of despairing faces.

但加入一系列絕望的臉孔。

In late 1893, Munch premiered “The Scream” at a solo exhibit in Berlin.

1893 年底，孟克在柏林的 個展上首次展出《吶喊》。

The artwork’s bold composition helped fuel the Expressionist movement,

這個作品的大膽構圖 激發了表現主義運動，

which likewise emphasized stark psychological states,

該運動同樣強調了嚴峻的心理狀態，

mapping the emotional contours of World War I and beyond.

描繪出第一次世界大戰 及之後的心理輪廓。

“The Scream” continued its crescendo.

《吶喊》繼續成長。

When it entered the public domain in the mid-1900s,

當它在 1900 年代中期 為大眾所知時，

new renditions and reproductions bolstered its fame.

新的詮釋和複製作提高了它的聲譽。

It featured in popular films during the 1990s,

它在 1990 年代 出現在流行電影中，

and both painted versions of “The Scream” were stolen and recovered

《吶喊》的兩個繪畫版本

在 1994 年和 2004 年分別 在兩次的搶劫中被盜，而後被找回。

in separate heists in 1994 and 2004.

Soon enough, it was a widely accepted archetypal symbol for horror and angst.

很快，它成了廣泛接受的 恐怖和焦慮的原型象徵。

最終，一個靈感來自 「吶喊」的表情符號出現了。

A “Scream”-inspired emoji was eventually implemented.

And, considering how to mark hazardous sites so far-off future generations

而且，美國政府在考慮為未來世代 標記危險網站，以便避開時，

could know to avoid them,

the US government has considered using “The Scream” expression.

也曾考慮過使用《吶喊》這個表情。

While its myriad cultural influences may not always reflect

雖然它的無數文化影響可能無法 反映孟克最初想表達的個人煎熬，

the personal agony Munch initially rendered,

“The Scream” has certainly found a near universal echo.

但《吶喊》肯定得到了普世的回響。