‘The Scream’ Is Auctioned for a Record $119.9 Million
By CAROL VOGEL
Published: May 2, 2012
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.
Bidders could be heard speaking Chinese and English (and,
some said, Norwegian), but the mystery winner bid over the phone, through
Charles Moffett, Sotheby’s executive vice president and vice chairman of its
worldwide Impressionist, modern and contemporary art department. Gasps could be
heard as the bidding climbed higher and higher, until there was a pause at $99
million, prompting Tobias Meyer, the evening’s auctioneer, to smile and say, “I
have all the time in the world.” When $100 million was bid, the audience began
to applaud.
The price eclipsed the previous record, made two years ago
at Christie’s in New York
Munch made four versions of “The Scream.” Three are now in
Norwegian museums; the one that sold on Wednesday, a pastel on board from 1895,
was the only one still in private hands. It was sold by Petter Olsen, a
Norwegian businessman and shipping heir whose father was a friend, neighbor and
patron of the artist.
The image has been reproduced endlessly in popular culture
in recent decades, becoming a universal symbol of angst and existential dread
and nearly as famous as the Mona Lisa.
Outside of Sotheby’s, there was excitement of a different
kind, as demonstrators protesting the company’s longtime lockout of art
handlers waved placards with the image of “The Scream” along with the motto,
“Sotheby’s: Bad for Art.” Many in the group — a mix of union members and Occupy Wall Street
No comments:
Post a Comment