Jason E Cooper

Norwegian artist Edvard Munch (1863‑1944) actually made made four versions of The Scream; two have been stolen and later recovered – one in 1994, the other in 2004. The only privately owned version – pastel-on-board, dating from 1895 – will be auctioned in May, and will no doubt fetch a fortune and hidden away in a private collection depriving the world of its anguish.

Although the Scream may be Munch most enigmatic, my favourite paiting of Munch’s is the Sick Child. He created numerous versions of the painting with the fourth, painted in 1907, hanging in the Tate Gallery. In 1928, it was on display in Dresden, but  the Nazi Party labeled Munch’s paintings as “degenerate art”, and removed his work from German museums. They were taken to Berlin to be auctioned with a Norwegian art dealer acquiring several of Munch’s paintings, including the 1907 version of The Sick Child, with the goal of returning them to Oslo. In 1939, it was purchased by Thomas Olsen and donated to the Tate Gallery collection. I would recommend everyone to go and see this painting for themselves, it was the first painting that really moved me.

It’s interesting how throughout history regime’s have been fearful of art, in all it’s forms.