Edvard Munch’s Scream Expected to Fetch at Least $80 Million

Edvard Munch’s Scream Expected to Fetch at Least $80 Million

Edvard Munch created four different versions of his world-famous painting The Scream. Three of them are safely kept in Norwegian museum collections, making the fourth one the only privately owned version. Now this rare and precious work of art is ready to find a new home. Sotheby’s will sell it on May 2, together with other remarkable works of art.

The owner of the drawing (pastel on board) is Petter Olsen, who inherited it from his father, Thomas Fredrik Olsen, a neighbor, friend and patron of Munch. The work still has its original frame, and it comes with a poem written by the artist himself, explaining how this masterpiece was born.

According to Simon Shaw, the senior vice president and head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art department in New York, this is “One of the most important works of art in private hands”. This makes it very difficult for experts to estimate how much the drawing will go for at the auction. However, the auction house believes it is very probable that it will fetch $80 million or more.

Other works that will be sold at the event include a self portrait by Munch, and his famous Madonna. The Scream however remains one of the most iconic and instantly recognizable works of art. Some even believe that the only painting that is more easily identifiable is Leonardo Da Vinci’s mysterious Mona Lisa.