Edvard Munch’s “Anxiety”
By: Sophia Beams
Tags: Mental Illness, History, Art History, Art, Anxiety

Lesser-known than The Scream, Anxiety provides viewers with a unique sense of abstract horror.

About two years after painting his world-famous piece The Scream, Edvard Munch took it upon himself to return to the world that The Scream was painted in and create the sequel: Anxiety. While there are many things that we’ll never be able to understand about this piece, it’s a unique representation of mental illness that truly shows how it feels to experience symptoms of anxiety.

Anxiety is known to be related to The Scream. The backgrounds are the same and the paintings appear to take place in the same location. Even the characters are painted with the same grey skin color and inhuman expressions. And, the painting itself is a form of self-expression similar to The Scream.

“Anxiety” by Edvard Munch

The painting is known to be a reflection of Munch’s mental state at the time. Painting was Munch’s way of expressing himself, and he found it to be very therapeutic. He suffered greatly from anxiety and depression, which were also the factors behind his decision to paint The Scream.

The main difference between The Scream and Anxiety is that Munch painted The Scream during isolation. His feelings while painting The Scream were better represented by a lone figure unleashing their horror into the world. It’s the anxiety and fear that comes with having no one else around you: Munch painted The Scream as a cry into the void, an existential attempt at capturing loneliness.

With Anxiety, however, Munch seeks to capture similar feelings, but this time felt as a group. There is certainly something eerie about the painting itself: those depicted in it do not quite appear to be human, and their expressions give off a feeling of subtle paranoia, discomfort, and distrust. These are all common feelings when experiencing symptoms of anxiety. Giving the almost-humans indiscernible features — like morphed arms or confusing facial features — adds to the sense that something is deeply wrong but in a shallow way, as if you are the only one that can see it.

The main difference that I notice between Anxiety and The Scream is that in Anxiety, it is difficult to discern exactly what is wrong. The Scream is very clear: Munch painted it after experiencing a panic attack as a result of his severe anxiety, and he certainly captured the feeling of disassociation and fear that comes with panic attacks.

“The Scream” by Edvard Munch

But, with Anxiety, there is merely a sense that something is off about the painting rather than a certainty. I think that is the true brilliance behind Munch’s painting: the feeling of anxiety itself is not as strong as many panic attacks are. It is creeping, uncertain, and it makes you feel like you are the imposter: that you should be uncertain about what you’re feeling. Many people with anxiety find it difficult to distinguish what emotions are caused by anxiety and what aren’t. Munch’s Anxiety mimics that: there is clearly something wrong with the painting, but it’s hard to determine what exactly is so offputting.

Munch’s personal life also matches the emotions portrayed by both paintings. With The Scream, Munch not only suffered multiple traumas and panic attacks before and after painting it, but he actually ended up checking himself into a mental hospital after he completed The Scream. However, with Anxiety, he focused on his return to civilization and the effect his trauma takes when represented in a larger group of people.

While I may have originally thought that The Scream was by far the most terrifying of Munch’s paintings, I am not so certain I can definitively say that anymore. Anxiety is not as blatantly terrifying. I might even argue that The Scream takes after a Hollywood jumpscare thriller, whereas Anxiety is a psychological horror. They both make you afraid, but it is easy to place why The Scream is so terrifying.

Anxiety is Munch’s way of taking The Scream and spreading it out to multiple people. The effect is not as great: none of the people are screaming, and none of them look existentially horrified. Instead, Anxiety amongst the group takes the role of an unseen illness: it creeps from person to person, eventually taking over the viewer, if only for a few moments.

I believe that is the true brilliance behind Anxiety: even if the audience has never actually experienced anxiety before, they can understand what it’s like, if only for a few moments. When you truly look at the painting and realize that there is something unsettling about it, but nothing so obvious as you can actually capture it, the creeping feeling settles in you. You experience uncertainty, discomfort, paranoia. It disturbs viewers to look at such a painting, and so they turn away and try to forget about it.

However, as Munch knew all too well, there is no forgetting about Anxiety. The piece haunts art critics and idle viewers alike. Although it may not be as famous as its counterpart, its unsettling imagery and unpleasant viewing experience make it both incredibly unique and equally unforgettable.