Scream

A solitary figure in a dark, hooded robe stands at lower left in an empty field of snow and ice, one hand pressed to his face, the other flung above his head. Bare, whip-thin branches jut from the icy ground at right, and a jagged dark line splits the pale horizon. No other figures or landmarks appear; the man stands isolated against the vast white expanse.

Thick, chalky impasto in whites, grays and pale blues dominates the canvas, applied in broad, choppy strokes suggesting wind-driven snow and glare. The dark robe is painted more smoothly, its silhouette sharp against the churned white ground. The emptiness and the figure's convulsive gesture create a tense, anguished mood, heightened by the harsh, shadowless light.