"The Scream," part of a series of expressionist paintings by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch, shows the influences of Touluse-Lautrec, Van Gogh and Gauguin. It is an image of fear, terryfing and unreasoned, like that of a nightmare. Some believe it symbolizes the human species overcome with existential angst. The rhythm of the long, wavy lines carry the echo of the scream into each and every corner of the picture, making the earth and sky one great sounding board of fear. On 22 August 2004, two masked and armed robbers stole the original iconic painting, and another painting, "Madonna," from the Munch Museum in Oslo, Norway, as stunned visitors watched. No one was hurt during the incident. At the time, the security at the museum was so lax that the thieves were able to simply grab the paintings off the wall without any alarms sounding. On 31 August 2006, the paintings were recovered and were said to be in a better-than-expected condition. "The Scream" had moisture damage on the lower left corner, while "Madonna" suffered several tears on the right side as well as two holes in Madonna's arm. The conserved works went back on display on 23 May 2008, when the exhibition "Scream and Madonna — Revisited" displayed the paintings together. Some damage to "The Scream" may prove impossible to repair, but the overall integrity of the work has not been compromised.
