Edvard Munch: The Scream Sells For $119m at Auction

The only privately owned version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream – one of the most recognisable paintings in history – has set a new world record, selling for $US119.9 million at Sotheby’s in New York.

Heated competition between seven bidders took the price tag to the highest for a work of art at auction in just 12 minutes. The packed sales room erupted into applause and cheering when the hammer went down.

An unnamed telephone bidder gave the final offer of $119,922,500, including commission, far exceeding pre-sales estimates of about $US80 million.

“A group of seven bidders jumped into the competition early, but it was a prolonged battle between two highly determined phone bidders that carried the final selling price to its historic level,” said Sotheby’s spokesman Darrell Rocha:: Read the full article »»»»

Edvard Munch: The Scream May Fetch $80m at Auction

A version of The Scream, one of the world’s most famous paintings, will go on sale this May in New York and is expected to fetch at least $US80 million, Sotheby’s auctioneers say. Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, whose father was a friend and patron of artist Edvard Munch, currently owns the work. It will go on the block in New York on May 2, headlining the impressionist and modern art sales.

Sotheby’s describes The Scream as “one of the most instantly recognisable images in both art history and popular culture, perhaps second only to the Mona Lisa.” There are four versions of the painting, which features a man screaming and clutching his head against a wavy, brightly-coloured landscape, but this is the only one in private hands. The influence of the image, described by Munch as recording a moment of paralysing anxiety during a walk with friends in the hills above Oslo, has few parallels. Read the full article »»»»

Jean-Michel Basquiat Graffiti Stars Invisible Secret Revealed

Experts at London’s Sotheby’s auction house revealed they have discovered an invisible ink signature made by US graffiti icon Jean-Michel Basquiat on his painting Orange Sports Figure. The work will go under the hammer in London on Wednesday and had been expected to sell for between 3 and 4 million pounds. But it could now fetch more after the chance discovery, which showed up when it was viewed under ultraviolet light.

“Despite the scholarship that has built up around Basquiat’s life and art since his tragic early death … we are still learning new facets of how he worked,” said Cheyenne Westphal, chairman of Contemporary Art Sotheby’s Europe. ”Nobody else probably ever knew about this invisible inscription, and the prospect that he might have left other invisible writings on his canvases that are only visible under ultraviolet light is very exciting,” Westphal added. Read the full article »»»»

Miro Stumbles At Mixed Sotheby’s Sale In London

Sotheby’s struggled to sell two of its top lots at a London auction of impressionist and modern art on Wednesday, taking some of the gloss off the art market after rival Christie’s set a series of records the day before. Spanish painter Joan Miro was to have been the star of the night, part of a series of sales where the two major auction houses are offering art valued at more than £500 million/$US800 million.

Miro’s “Peinture” of 1933 had been valued at £7-10 million/$US11-$US16 million – but went unsold in the auction. In vivid contrast, Christie’s on Tuesday set a new auction record for the same artist when “Painting-Poem” went for £16.8 million/$US26.5 million, or twice the pre-sale estimate.

Another casualty on Wednesday was Gustav Klimt’s recently rediscovered landscape “Seeufer mit Birken” painted in 1901 and not seen in public for more than a century. It too failed to find a buyer willing to meet the 6-8 million pound price tag, although it did change hands in a private transaction after the auction for £5.6 million/$US8.8 million. Read the full article »»»»