'The Scream' Fetches Record $119.9 Million in New York Auction

The Wall Street Journal ^ | May 2, 2012 | KELLY CROW

[Free ThinkerNY]

Let the art market roar. Norwegian painter Edvard Munch became the most expensive artist at auction Wednesday when his 1895 pastel of a terrified man clutching his cheeks along an Oslo fjord, "The Scream," sold for $119.9 million at Sotheby's—the most ever paid for a work of art at auction.

The purchase surpasses the $106.5 million spent two years ago for Pablo Picasso's 1932 portrait of his mistress, "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust," as well as Alberto Giacometti's earlier record of $104.3 million for his 1960 spindly bronze sculpture, "Walking Man I."

In a dogged contest at the auction house's New York saleroom, the bidding for Munch's "Scream" began at $40 million and shot up quickly, with five bidders from the U.S. and China competing for the sunset-colored portrait.

Charlie Moffett, a Sotheby's specialist who represents American buyers, fielded the anonymous winning bid by phone.

The record-setting Munch was considered a plum as much for its rarity as for its pop-culture ubiquity.

One of four versions of "The Scream" that Munch created, this version was the only one not in an Oslo museum and the first to ever come up at auction.

The image has also been reproduced on everything from ice-cream containers to the villain's mask in Wes Craven's "Scream" horror films.

[Track9]

Interesting observation. I wonder what the political leanings of the buyer is?

Don't think it really matters, just that they're responsive to the environment. What conditions in Western society make them think this investment is going up.. Kind of a rhetorical question for people who hang out here but an interesting take on just how messed up leftist philosophy makes people.