“Scream” Munch left the hammer for $ 120 million

One of the most iconic masterpieces of the world, the “scream” of the Norwegian artist Edward Munk, was sold for $ 119.9 million at the Sotheby's auction in New York. The lot turned out to be one of the most expensive works of art that have ever left the hammer, writes The Telegraph .

The starting price amounted to $ 50 million. After 15 minutes of trading, in which seven potential buyers participated, the work of an expressionist, created in 1895, was acquired by an anonymous trading participant by phone.

The work written by the pastel is one of the four versions of the “Scream” Munk. The remaining three paintings are in Norwegian museums. According to trading organizers, the option they sold was the brightest of all. In addition, on the frame of this picture, Munk's story was preserved about what prompted him to write this work.

“I walked along the road with two friends-the sun settled, and suddenly the sky became bloody red. I stopped, almost without strength. He leaned on the hedge. Above the city and Fjord was the blood and languages ​​of fire, ”wrote the artist. - My friends continued the path, and I stayed standing, trembling with excitement. I felt an endless scream piercing nature. ”

It should be noted that at a trading a picture was put up by businessman Peter Olsen, whose family has known Munk and owned a “scream” since 1930.

The most expensive picture of the ever sold “players in the cards” of the French artist Paul Cezanne remains. She left the hammer for $ 250 million in 2011.