A blast felt ’round the world: “Since 1893, when ‘The Scream’ was rendered, various art historians have speculated about the nature of that event, and when it occurred. Now Dr. Donald Olson, an astronomer at Texas State University, and colleagues say these experts have overlooked an earth-shaking fact.

In the February 2004 issue of Sky & Telescope, the Texas group asserts that ‘The Scream’ was the direct consequence of a cataclysm half a world away from Norway: the volcanic explosion on the Indonesian island of Krakatoa.” —New York Times