May 3rd, 2012

“The Scream” from Edvard Munch was sold for nearly $120 millions

This pastel painted in 1895 by Edvard Munch, “The Scream”, was sold for nearly $ 120 million by Sotheby’s in New York this May 2. This sale breaks the record for an artwork sold at auction, the $ 106 million paid in 2010 for the painting of Pablo Picasso’s “Nude, green leaves and bust”. The sale lasted only 12 minutes and between 7 auctionners.
This work, symbolizing modern man carried away by an attack of existential fear, is often considered the most important work of the artist. The landscape is basically Oslo, seen from the hill of Ekeberg. Munch executed four versions of this artwork. This is the 4th version which belonged to the Norwegian billionaire Petter Olsen that has just been sold.
“I was walking on a path with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red I stopped, exhausted, and leaned on a fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord of the city – my friends continued, and stayed there, trembling with anxiety – I felt an endless scream was going on across the universe and tearing nature. “(Munch – July 22, 1892).