MM N 72. Literary sketch. The Scream

Literary sketch. “I was walking down a road”.

MM N 72, fol. 1r

    I was walking down a road one
evening – on one side the
city and the fjord lay beneath me –

    I was tired and ill – I stood
gazing out over the fjord –
The Sun was setting –
the clouds turned the colour
red – like blood –

    I felt as though a scream passed through
nature – I thought I heard
a scream –

    I painted this image –
painted the clouds like real blood –
– The colours screamed –
It became the picture scream in the frieze of life

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    When the music one sunny spring day
wafted down Karl Johan  – my mind became
filled with jubilation – Spring – the light
the music – blended together into
quivering exultation – The Music
coloured [everything] and the colours –

    – I painted the image and made the colours
quiver in the rhythm of the music – I painted the
colours I saw then