The Scream of self-liberation Paintings by one of Expressionism's pioneers For Edvard Munch (1863-1944), painting was an act of self-liberation. His treatments of fear, desperation, and death still exert a powerful visual and psychological effect on modern viewers. Of all Munch's paintings, "The Scream" (1893), representing a figure tortured by horror, is the most well-known-and certainly one of the most expressive. The artist reflected his innermost feelings in his work: "In reality, my art is a free confession, an attempt to clarify to myself my own relation to life..." Although Edvard Munch cannot be clearly identified with any single movement, he is deemed a pioneer of Expressionism. The author: Ulrich Bischoff (born in 1947) studied art history, German language and literature studies, sociology, history, philosophy, religion and education in Tubingen and Berlin. He has taught numerous courses at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and at the Universities of Berlin, Kiel, Hamburg, Passau and Dresden. Since 1994 Bischoff has been director of the Gemaldegalerie Neue Meister at the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden. He has published numerous writings in the areas of classical modernity and contemporary art, including TASCHEN's Edvard Munch and Max Ernst.