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# MoMA's Hilariously Bizarre Silent Screams
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/momas-hilariously-bizarre-silent-screams/
- Published: 2012-11-19T16:59:08.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:01:56.000Z
- Description: With one version of Munch's renowned The Scream series on display at MoMA, New Yorkers and tourist are mimicking the bald figure's extreme expression much the way tourists to Oslo have long been doing — though some aren't very successful at it. Some people may think it's tacky, I think it's a scream
- Author: Hrag Vartanian
- Tags: Art, Edvard Munch, MoMA, Photo Essays, The Scream, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 06:51 (2012, 2013, part 1)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/11/a7los6qccaickkq-640.jpg)

Mickey Osterreicher tweets out this pic with “If one more person takes my picture I may Scream! At the #MoMA” (via @nppalawyer)

Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” has long been phenomena to large to be confined to the walls of a museum. The iconic work is a pop culture meme, and one unlike any other visual art meme in that it is instantly recognizable and universal, and you can understand why as the timeless expression represents the absurdity and anxiety of the modern world.

Now, with one version of Munch’s renowned series on display at MoMA, New Yorkers and tourists are mimicking the bald figure’s extreme expression much the way [tourists](http://www.flickr.com/photos/65166483@N00/284988898/?ref=hyperallergic.com) [to](http://www.flickr.com/photos/vortex%5Fkl/5873267290/?ref=hyperallergic.com) [Oslo](http://www.flickr.com/photos/hsili/4729332067/?ref=hyperallergic.com) [have](http://www.flickr.com/photos/janetkampf/2818722012/?ref=hyperallergic.com) [long](http://www.flickr.com/photos/testspiel/230178007/?ref=hyperallergic.com) [been](http://www.flickr.com/photos/knowlesteve/7385101132/?ref=hyperallergic.com) [doing](http://www.flickr.com/photos/dave%5Fbohn/2696711420/?ref=hyperallergic.com) — though [some aren’t very](http://www.flickr.com/photos/theohiostateuniversity/5812745654/?ref=hyperallergic.com) [successful at it](http://www.flickr.com/photos/roya/5661029836/?ref=hyperallergic.com). Some people may think it’s tacky, I think it’s a scream.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/11/screaming-moma-best-640.jpg "screaming-moma-best-640")

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/11/screaming-at-moma-01.jpg "screaming-at-moma-01")

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/11/screaming-moma-22-640.jpg "screaming-moma-22-640")

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/11/screaming-moma-33-640.jpg "screaming-moma-33-640")

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/11/screaming-moma-44-640.jpg "screaming-moma-44-640")

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/11/screaming-moma-late-640.jpg "screaming-moma-late-640")

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/11/screaming-moma-normal-post-640.jpg "screaming-moma-normal-post-640")

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/11/screaming-moma-groups-640.jpg "screaming-moma-groups-640")

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/11/screaming-moma-text2-640.jpg "screaming-moma-text2-640")

[![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/11/screaming-moma-emoji-640.jpg "screaming-moma-emoji-640")](https://twitter.com/HaleySpitz/status/267335424987508737?ref=hyperallergic.com)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2012/11/screaming-at-moma-02.jpg "screaming-at-moma-02")

[Edvard Munch: The Scream](http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1330?ref=hyperallergic.com) *is on view at the Museum of Modern Art (11 West 53rd Street, Midtown, Manhattan) through April 29, 2013.*