$80 Million???? Now That's a Scream!

Seriously.   This painting – Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” will be auctioned at Sotheby’s soon and experts are estimating the painting may fetch $80 million.

Sotheby’s describes the iconic painting as “one of the most instantly recognizable images in art and popular culture, second only perhaps to Da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa.”

Most paintings have only one original but Munch painted a few versions….using various forms of media.  The Munch Museum holds one of two painted versions and one pastel.  The National Gallery of Norway holds the other painted version…..and there is also a lithograph.     The version that Sotheby’s will auction is a pastel and is owned currently by Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, which will be offered at auction in May, 2012.

This painting has been stolen twice.  In both cases it was the versions owned by museums that were stolen.

It has been parodied by “The Simpsons”.

…and the frame holding this version of the 1895 work has a handwritten inscription from the artist…the final line of which reads “I felt the great Scream in Nature.”

Edvard Munch explained the painting this way, “I was walking along a path with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.”