By Madeleine Muzdakis on February 25, 2021
Infrared photography used on Edvard Munch s “The Scream” at the National Museum of Norway. (Photo: Annar Bjorgli/The National Museum)
Etched into the paint of one of the most famous paintings in the world, a haunting eight-word sentence has been a mystery to art historians for over a century. In 1904, a Danish art critic peering at Edvard Munch‘s
The Scream noticed graffiti along the rolling clouds of the blood-red sunset. The sentence reads, “Can only have been painted by a madman.” The mysterious statement clearly added sometime after the painting s debut in 1893 was long thought to be added either by a disgruntled onlooker or perhaps the artist himself. The century-old debate has finally been settled by modern technology. Using infrared photography to compare handwriting to Munch s letters and journals, experts at the National Museum of N