大象传媒

What do you think of when you hear the phrase "artistic genius"? Maybe a creative icon? Or a unique talent?

But every artist creates their works in a time and a place, inspired by the world around them. And sometimes these sources of inspiration are properly surprising and help us think of their works in new ways.

In this programme, Kate Bryan takes one artistic work which has reached iconic status and finds out about the unexpected influencers who might have led to the work's creation. The work she's picked is Edvard Munch's famous painting, The Scream. Painted in 1893 when Munch was a young man, the painting has become an icon, there's even an emoji. But can we see the artwork in a new light by learning about the influencers who might have inspired Munch to paint it?

Joining Kate in the studio is Professor Dorothy Price from the Courtauld Institute of Art - together they meet influencers from Parisian painters to Peruvian mummies, from German philosophers to cloud formations! At the end of the programme, they must choose the influencer they found the most persuasive or who helped them see The Scream in a totally new light.

With contributions from Christopher Heaney, Associate Professor at Pennsylvania State University; Sue Prideaux, author of Edvard Munch: Behind the Scream; the atmospheric physicist Dr Fred Prata and the environmental historian and writer Dr Richard Hamblyn.

Presenter: Kate Bryan
Producer: Camellia Sinclair for 大象传媒 Audio in Bristol