A new Guinness World Record has been set for the most expensive painting sold at auction after a version of Edvard Munch's The Scream was sold for an incredible $119,922,500 US dollars (£74 million). The 1895 artwork was bought by an anonymous buyer at Sotheby's in New York, with bidding lasting 12 minutes. The price includes the buyer's premium.
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The sale price beats the previous record for an artwork sold at auction of $106.5 million US dollars for Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust, sold by Christie's in 2010.
One of the art world's most recognisable images - The Scream depicts a man holding his head and screaming under a streaked, blood-red sky. The auctioned piece is one of four versions by the Norwegian expressionist painter and is the only one left in private hands.
Sotheby's said its pastel-on-board version of The Scream is the only version whose frame was hand-painted by the artist to include his poem, detailing the work's inspiration. In the poem, Munch described himself "shivering with anxiety" and said he felt "the great scream in nature". Proceeds from the sale will go toward the establishment of a new museum, art centre and hotel in Norway.
The director of the National Museum in Oslo, Audun Eckhoff, said Norwegian authorities approved the Munch sale since the other versions of the composition are in Norwegian museums. One version is owned by the National Museum and two others by the Munch Museum, also in Oslo.
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