The evocative phenomenon of mother-of-pearl clouds inspired Munch's Scream

    Who among us doesn't know Munch's Scream? At its origin, there may have been some particular clouds, called nacreous

    Who among us does not know theScream of Munch? One of the Norwegian artist's best-known paintings is characterized by a deformed face, with a wide open mouth and a surprised, frightened expression. Well, there may have been some particular clouds behind that fear.





    They are the so-called nacreous or nacreous clouds. According to a team of Norwegian scientists, Munch was inspired by a sky full of these clouds, for an phenomenon rare and unforgettable.

    Nacreous clouds form in the stratosphere at heights ranging between 15.000 and 25.000 m above sea level. They arise with temperatures below −78 ° C, values ​​that are reached in the lower stratosphere during thepolar winter.

    These temperatures are infrequent in the Northern Hemisphere where however they can form due to leeward waves that come from the high mountains. Strong winds at high altitudes and deep depressions are likely to favor its formation.

    Due to their altitude and the curvature of the Earth, nacreous clouds receive sunlight from below the horizonee are observable before sunrise or after sunset. The colors come from the combination of sunlight on the small ice crystals.

    The evocative phenomenon of mother-of-pearl clouds inspired Munch's Scream Gallery

    "Nacre clouds appear irregularly in the winter stratosphere at high northern latitudes, about 20-30 km above the surface of the Earth," they explained the researchers on the occasion of the presentation to the General Assembly of the European Union of Geosciences (EGU). “The particle size range of clouds is close to that of light visible, and that explains theirs Extraordinary colors. We argue that the Norwegian painter Edvard Munch was terrified after seeing the sky suddenly turn 'blood red' after sunset. It is very likely that the mother-of-pearl clouds have formed ”.

    According to these new hypotheses, the artist would have been inspired by that event to create his famous painting, where behind the human figure the sky is crossed by wavy and colored lines, tending to red and yellow.



    The evocative phenomenon of mother-of-pearl clouds inspired Munch's Scream

    @ansa photo

    However, according to other theories, the artist had been observing the colorful sunsets that followed the eruption of the Krakatoa volcano in 1883 for years, about 10 before the realization of the first version of the Scream.

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