Edvard Munch · 1893
The Scream
Oranges and scorched reds over a bruised ground — and yellows that are quietly turning white.
National Gallery, Oslo
Tap any swatch to copy. Ground colours are the three largest areas of the canvas; accent colours are chosen for intensity and may cover very little — which is exactly why they carry the painting. Percentages are each colour's share of the whole canvas, so these six will not add up to 100%: they are six of the 26 distinct colour regions measured, not a division of the surface. How these were sampled
The scheme is almost entirely warm, and its power comes from value rather than hue contrast: mid-toned oranges sit against browns of similar saturation, so nothing in the picture offers the eye a place to rest. Used in design, this palette produces the same low-level unease, which is worth knowing before applying it to anything that needs to feel calm.
Munch made several versions in different media. The swatches here read one of them, so expect real variation against other reproductions you may have seen.
What the artist actually used
- Cadmium yellow (cadmium sulfide, CdS)
- Used thickly in the sky and water. Degrading.
- Cadmium-based oranges and reds
- The sky bands.
Has the colour changed?
Yes, and against the usual assumption. In the c. 1910 version, some cadmium yellow strokes in the sky and the figure's neck have turned off-white, and thickly-painted water is flaking. Synchrotron work found that moisture, not light, is the main driver: chloride compounds at high humidity oxidise cadmium sulfide to cadmium sulfate. The museum's guidance is to hold the work below 45% relative humidity.
Sources
Accessibility
WCAG contrast ratios between every color pair. Use the strongest combinations for text; the weakest ones make good decorative backgrounds.
Strongest pair: #B27432 on #695B52 — 1.69:1 (Fail)
- #B27432·#866B52
- #B27432·#796757
- #B27432·#A24F39
- #B27432·#A84530
- #B27432·#695B52
- #866B52·#796757
- #866B52·#A24F39
- #866B52·#A84530
- #866B52·#695B52
- #796757·#A24F39
- #796757·#A84530
- #796757·#695B52
- #A24F39·#A84530
- #A24F39·#695B52
- #A84530·#695B52
How to read this
- AAA
- Passes WCAG 2.1 AAA for normal text — the highest accessibility bar.
- AA
- Passes WCAG 2.1 AA for normal text. Standard production requirement.
- AA Large
- Passes WCAG 2.1 AA for large text only (18pt+ or 14pt+ bold). Avoid for body copy.
- Fail
- Below WCAG 2.1 AA. Fine for decorative use — not for text.
Export
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Studio
Paint this palette
These are the materials a colour study actually gets made with.
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Kuretake
Gansai Tambi 24 — Art Nouveau
Gansai are traditional Japanese watercolour pans — dense, matte and easy to mix, the closest everyday medium to the flat printed colour Wada's plates were made in. This is the Art Nouveau-themed 'II' edition, a different 24 to the standard set.
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Kuretake
Gansai Tambi 36
The larger pan set. More range means mixing toward a specific plate rather than approximating it from six colours.
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Strathmore
300 Series watercolour pad, 140 lb cold press
140 lb cold press is the weight that takes a wet wash without buckling — the paper most colour studies end up on.
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Pentel
Fude Touch brush sign pen
A felt brush tip for the labelling and linework around a swatch study — the annotation half of a colour notebook.
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Pantone
Formula Guide — coated & uncoated
When a palette leaves the screen, this is the shared vocabulary between you and the press. Coated and uncoated because the same ink is not the same colour on both.
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Library
Further reading
Torn between the two Wada dictionaries? Vol 1 vs Vol 2, compared plate by plate →
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