Munch, What a Scream.

Self-portrait, 1895, lithograph

It's one of the most widely recognized paintings ever, but "The Scream" tells only part of Edvard Munch's tale of emotional instability, loss, and a fervent talent that created over 1,000 paintings, 15,400 prints, 4,500 drawings and six sculptures.

For the first time in about 30 years, a major American retrospective seeks to tell the rest of the Norwegian painter's story. "Edvard Munch: The Modern Life of the Soul" opened Sunday at the New York Museum of Modern Art with 87 paintings and about 50 works on paper, including an 1895 lithograph of "The Scream," with the majority of works coming from the Munch Museum in Oslo.

The show will run through May 8, 2006.