A comparison of The Scream and No. 16

The nature of modern art has shifted from the representation of objective reality to the exploration of abstract and non-objective concepts. Abstract Expressionism, which emerged as a genuinely American school of modern art, challenged traditional forms of painting and the definition of what painting is. No. 16 by Mark Rothko is an excellent example of Abstract Expressionism, using large blocks of color and abstraction to explore the qualities of painting and the language conveyed by a picture. On the other hand, modern European painting is often related to the "record" and the "image," even if they are unconventional and abstract, as exemplified by The Scream by Edvard Munch, a masterpiece of Expressionism.

Despite their abstraction, the nature of abstraction in The Scream and No. 16 differs. The abstraction in The Scream is derived from reality, a subjective and exaggerated distortion of people, objects, and scenes that exist objectively in the real world and are projected into the artist's spirit. The central figure is twisted and indistinguishable, while the blood-red sky is slowly sinking into the sea. The straight brushstrokes depict the vertical sidewalk, the only object in the view with a connection to reality. The figures, city, bay, and sky are more like symbols of the painter's mental state and figures.

In contrast, the abstraction of No. 16 has nothing to do with the objective world. It comes from the artist's spiritual essence, using large color rectangles and pure colors. The painting has only four colors, with low saturation and low brightness. The mild brown is at the bottom, the slightly eye-catching red lights up the whole picture at the top, and the gentle black is at the top, suppressing the striking red. The dark purple in the background is harmonious and understated as if it were a mixture of the brown, red, and violet in the center of the picture.

The whole concept of No. 16 is full of calmness and a sublime that comes from the spirit itself, which expresses and provokes human emotions in an abstract form. The color rectangles expose the viewer to an almost meditative state of mind, revealing their pure nature as strokes of paint. No. 16 is a simple expression of the complexity of thought in modern society.

Both works are explorations and expressions of the artist's spirituality. The Scream is a painting of symbols and artistic drives that come from personal experiences, lurking in the artist's memory. In contrast, No. 16 is an expression of the artist's spirituality, which provokes human emotions through the use of color and form. These works of art have their own particular mediums and rely on the physical and psychological thought dynamics of the creator. Ultimately, the purpose of these works is to connect with the environment and the viewer, revealing a vision of ultimate things.