Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” (1895), discussed earlier this week on the blog, sold last night for $119.9 million, “becoming the world’s most expensive work of art to ever sell at auction” (New York Times). Within 12 minutes, the work has sold to a phone bidder, through Sotheby’s EVP Charles Moffett.
The previous record, Picasso’s “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” sold at Christie’s in 2010 for $106.5 million.
The rest of the auction also went well, with a total of $330 million, close to its high estimate.
Christie’s held their Impressionist and Modern Art Evening Sale on Tuesday night, selling a total of $117 million in art, not even the price of the Munch work alone. The auction house via its website says, “We are particularly pleased with the results achieved for Cézanne’s study for “Card Players” and for our cover lot, Matisse’s “Les Pivoines (The Peonies),” which each sold for just over $19 million.
[This entry was drafted with the assistance of Nicole Dornbusch].