Which of these artists was born in Norway? Johannes Vermeer, Edvard Munch, Vincent Van Gogh or Henri Matisse. Born in Norway in 1863 was the expressionist painter Edvard Munch.
His best known painting is one of the most famous artworks in the world and "The Scream" has a bit of a mystery to it. A tiny message was hidden in the painting. The words read quote, "can only been painted by a madman". Who wrote them?
As far as the painting goes, art historians believe it was inspired by a walk Munch took around the Norwegian capital of Oslo. He was said to be mentally and physically uneasy at the time. "The Scream" was first unveiled to the public in 1895 and some critics didn't like it. They thought the work was troubling and questioned the mental condition of the person who painted it.
Curators at the National Museum of Norway say Munch was hurt by this criticism and that he wrote about it in his diary. But the author of the hidden message has been less certain. It's faint, unclear and written in pencil on top of the paint.
So experts say it was done after the artwork was finished. Some have speculated that a critic vandalized it. But after using infrared technology to examine the madman message and then comparing it to Munch's notes and letters, curators concluded that it was written by Munch himself. They believe he put it there after hearing people criticize "The Scream".
