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.
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.
They're still books – only a bit changed. All these books were transformed into visual art, but still they're books. American artist and mathematician Robert The, has made bizarre creations from books for many years. His art works are stored in many private collections and are exhibited in modern museums.
Create human forms from books, this is what Nick Georgiou does. Art comes from the "death" of books with the arrival of e-books and other digital media. Books and other newspapers are becoming artifacts of the 21st century. So, given that the books are dedicated to Fahrenheit 451, he decided to create sculptures like books. Each one has a shape, a color, a size and this permits him to create anything his imagination suggests.
Created by Wim Botha, who was born in 1974, graduated from the University of Pretoria in 1996, and currently lives in Cape Town
The artist Matej Krén has done numerous such book sculptures
A book of lights is both a book and a lamp. It was created by Takeshi Ishiguro for Arctecnica. The lamp can be powered by a simple low voltage adapter.
Commissioned by the Library Council of the Museum of Modern Art, Danish architect, Olafur Eliasson, made this beautiful book, with 454 laser-cut leaves, which shows a cross section of his own house in Copenhagen
Born in Chicago but currently living and working out of Atlanta, Georgia, contemporary artist Brian Dettmer creates incredible works of art with old books and tremendous patience. Using knives, tweezers and surgical tools, Brian meticulously exposes various layers to create his mind-blowing artwork. Dettmer has received critical acclaim around the world and his work can be found in countless galleries and publications.
In the spirit of books these works speak in a few images what volumes, literally, cannot. Taking second-hand and discarded English or Japanese texts, these strive to make this overlooked, ignored and often forgotten medium come to a new life. Created by the artist Samantha Huang.
Another work of Nick Georgiou's. The human forms are the reflections of a man; two eyes and a mouth are enough to simulate humans. All at once, Nick can easily turn these old books into sculptures. In a street or a house, all frames are good.
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