‘The Scream’ View

“My companions went onward, and I remained behind, trembling with dread—and I felt as though a great, boundless scream passed through nature.” — Edvard Munch, 1892

Before The Scream became the iconic image we know today, Munch first tried to capture his experience in words. In the winter of 1892, he recorded this poem in his diary after walking along this hillside road with friends:

I walked along the road with two companions — then the sun went down.

The sky was suddenly turned to blood-red — I halted, leaned upon the railing, weary unto death — over the blue-black fjord and town there lay blood and tongues of fire. 

My companions went onward, and I remained behind, trembling with dread — and I felt as though a great, boundless scream passed through Nature.

Munch often wandered this area, now part of the suburb of Bekkelaget, and repeatedly returned to its landscapes in both writing and paint. Although the first version of The Scream was completed in Berlin, there is little doubt about the source of its haunting background: the view from the slopes of Ekeberg overlooking Oslo and the fjord. 

His deep attachment to nature, combined with lifelong anxiety and a family history of mental illness, likely shaped the emotional force of the painting. Around the time he wrote the diary entry, Munch’s manic depressive sister Laura — was being treated in various psychiatric institutions, eventually becoming a patient at Oslo Hospital, located at the foot of Ekeberg hill, just below the view point.

Located southeast of Oslo’s city center, Ekebergskrenten is easy to reach. Just 15 minutes with public transportation from downtown. Two bus lines service the area, the closest stop is only 200 meters away.