The Scream

The Scream was a painting by Edvard Munch created to trap the Warp Core, which he described as an infinite scream through nature. , sensing its power, stole the painting while it was on Earth but awakened the Warp Core. Damien Pierson took the painting back to the Warp Core's home Duchamp 331. The Seventh Doctor attempted to quietly steal the painting before its historical destruction for his personal gallery. (AUDIO: Dust Breeding)

When shown multiple versions of The Scream in the Relic Room, Professor River Song noted that one of those copies was made to trap the Warp Core. She also sensed something about the face depicted which reminded her of something she couldn't quite remember. Mx Neon agreed, saying that they felt the same way about it. (AUDIO: The Web of Time)

Behind the scenes

 * Munch actually painted two other versions of this painting, which have not yet appeared in the Doctor Who universe.
 * The Doctor Who Magazine preview illustration (in DWM 306) depicting AUDIO: Dust Breeding was a parody of the Scream.
 * The Shriek from PROSE: The Art of Destruction was possibly named after this piece.
 * The Silents were designed after the image of the screaming figure in the painting. Steven Moffat has said that the idea was that the aliens had been with us for centuries and the painting actually depicted one. According to The Brilliant Book 2012, Rory Williams, while hunting the Silence in Texas, realised that the aliens he was searching for resembled Munch's painting, and so deduced that the aliens must have been behind its repeated thefts. The Web of Fear, an audio story released in 2019, had River make reference to the figure in The Scream reminding her of something, though she can't quite remember what.