How did Edvard Munch’s 1889 trip to Paris affect his art?

Edvard Munch’s 1889 trip to Paris was a pivotal turning point in his artistic development, as it allowed him to move beyond the naturalist aesthetic prevalent in Kristiania (now Oslo) by assimilating French Impressionism.1

Following this visit, Munch began incorporating open brushstrokes characteristic of the Impressionists into his work. However, he soon found the bounding lines used by Post-Impressionist painters like Paul Gauguin more compatible with his evolving vision. He became particularly receptive to Gauguin’s Synthetism, which encouraged artists to move past the mere depiction of external nature to give form to inner experiences.1

Additionally, his time in Paris exposed him to new cultural influences, including French Decadent Symbolist poetry, which helped him formulate a new philosophy of art centered on universal human forces. His exposure to the city's museums also left a lasting mark; it is conjectured that the central figure in his iconic work, The Scream, was inspired by an Inca mummy he viewed at the 1889 World’s Fair in Paris.12