Art lovers flock to Oslo Munch Museum as stolen 'Scream' returns

0 Comments | AFP, May, 2008

OSLO (AFP) — Art lovers converged on the Munch Museum in Oslo on Friday as Edvard Munch's Expressionist masterpiece "The Scream" went back on display nearly four years after it was stolen and damaged in a daring heist.

Some 440 people, more than double the average number of visitors this time of year, came to see the unveiling of "The Scream" and "Madonna", another Munch masterpiece stolen in the 2004 robbery, a museum official told AFP.

"The Scream", which is perhaps the most famous depiction of existential angst, depicts an individual on a bridge, hands clasped around the head and mouth wide open in an apparent yell of despair, against a backdrop of waves of red, yellow, blue and black.

The painting still showed signs of the damage it suffered after two...