For this post, I chose the Painting Scream by Edvard Munch; some features of the painting that stuck out to me are the person covering his ears, screaming, the seemingly warped reality, and finally, being on a pier alone. At first glance, this painting didn’t seem to connect with me. I thought it was just someone running from two people screaming. Only later did I take a significant amount of time to look at and try to critique the features of this painting and how I digest the information. The cumulative effort of all the features in this painting leads me to two conclusions that I find plausible for this Painting. One is the age-old saying of “putting yourself in their shoes,” meaning if you were him, you would also be screaming because of the way he sees the world; the person is on a pier, somewhere fun should be happening, but if you see the world the way the person in the painting does; a warped and scary reality it's hard to see the light of the situation. This connects with me because I often need to take a step back and reassure myself of positive outcomes and not have a negative outlook on day-to-day activities; for example, I regularly dread going to work. Still, if I focus on whom I work with instead of the actual work, I often find the day goes by faster and more productively. Another interpretation I had was inspired by the people in the background, almost unbothered by the person screaming, making me believe it was all in the person's mind. This part reminds me of a family member who keeps their thoughts and problems inside them. Even though they often look fine or maybe just not in the best mood, they would get set off with the slightest problem, often not from the most recent action but something from deep inside they have been holding in, and instead of letting it out so others can see they keep it in, cover their ears scream hoping the problem will go away without any effort to reach out for help.
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