Edvard Munch, The Scream, 1895. Sold for $119,922,496 at Sotheby's, New York, May 2, 2012
This month’s May auction performances gleaned countless viewers, gawkers, critics and some buyers — indeed, a sufficient number of buyers to drive the prices of a small number of pictures to new records. The rotation within the small pyramid at the top continued.
The work, a pastel on board, is one of four versions created by Edvard Munch; the other three are in museums in Norway. The buyer bid over the telephone.
It took 12 nail-biting minutes and five eager bidders for Edvard Munch’s famed 1895 pastel of “The Scream” to sell for $119.9 million, becoming the world’s most expensive work of art ever to sell at auction. (more…)
