depicts the artist himself, not screaming, but, on the
contrary, defending himself against the scream of nature. In this sense, the posture in which he portrays himself can be a reflex response of a person trying to escape from strong noise, real or fictitious.
Munch's work, Robert Rosenblum expressed the opinion that the
unusual, asexual creature in the foreground was most likely inspired by the Peruvian mummy that Munch might have seen at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1889.