Norwegian expressionist Edvard Munch’s The Scream has become the most expensive artwork sold at auction. It fetched an alarming $119.9m (£74m). It’s a tad scary because thats more than I earn in a week. Bidding lasted 12 minutes which is better than a bid on eBay which can last a boring 30 days. However, the good news is that the proceeds of the sale are to go towards founding a new museum, hotel and art centre in Norway a country where a beer can cost as much as your house.
In a page in his diary headed Nice 22.01.1892, Edvard Munch described his inspiration for the image thus:
“I was walking along a path with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature”.
These words were hand-painted by Munch in poem form on the frame of the 1895 version of the painting because he ran out of paper, his iPad had no power and his Biro had dried.
From where I sit, I have never really loved this piece. Historically I guess its interesting, now even more so for the extraordinary amount it has raised in the dosh stakes. Whether I could have this hanging on a wall in my home is open to question. Even if I managed to pick it up on eBay for a fiver including delivery, I’m not sure it matches the decor somehow. It would depend on whether I could ‘Buy it now’, because this whole eBay auction thing can be so tedious.
