Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’ at Sotheby’s NYC may fetch $80 million

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One of four versions of Edvard Munch’s masterpiece “The Scream” will be sold this spring in New York, Sotheby’s auction house. Sotheby’s estimates that the work, which has become a modern icon of human anxiety, will sell for $80 million or more.

The 1895 drawing of a man holding his head and screaming under a streaked, blood-red sky is being sold by Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, whose father was a friend and patron of Munch’s. It is the only version of “The Scream” still in private hands.

The work will lead Sotheby’s Impressionist and modern sale on May2nd. A price tag of $80 million would be among the highest-ever for an artwork. According to Sotheby’s, a total of eight works have sold for $80 million or more at auction. The record is $106.5 million for Picasso’s “Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust, sold in 2010 by Christie’s in New York.

The work will be on view at Sotheby’s in London starting April 13 and then in New York starting April 27.

www.sothebys.com/