http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddes...-record-auction

All I can say is...

Jeez. I never understood why some paintings fetch so much money, and others are worth shit all.

Ah.. Wealth.

I honestly don't understand how some are worth so much either.

The precision in some is insane compared to others (ie Pollock), yet they're worth dick all.

However, the scream is personally one of my favorite paintings... Its pretty sick!

If I was a multi-billionaire I would totally have bought it. I love that painting. That and van Gogh's Starry Night.

Supply vs Demand. Demand came from the fact that everyone knows this work from reproductions.

Went higher than I was expecting, I figured 105 or so. Makes the car auctions on TV look like a hobby for the poor. One could have four car collections like this one for the cost of this painting. Hmmmm:

http://www.modlyfe.com/2012/01/a-30...car-collection/

The person who bought the painting is certain to have a car collection already.

Holy crap lol...

you're very close, it did go for $107 million, but after taxes & selling fees it escalated to $120 million.
$107 million for that? man.....

Out of sheer curiousness I'd be interested to see what the Mona Lisa would fetch if it ever crossed the chopping block.

Oddly enough that wasn't anywhere near a work of Art to Leonardo DaVinci, it wasn't even finished.

Much the same with many of the most revered paintings. If only their artists could see how many millions people are tossing around to own them centuries later; I think they'd be absolutely speechless.



Those cars are amazing though, wow.

It will look nice in my bathroom, ain't no thang ya hurrd

wasn't this the painting that was stolen from some art gallery a couple years back? I didn't know it had been found...

^ Its been stolen twice in the last 20 years.
Most recently was in 2004 by masked gunmen.

Considering the selling price, I'd be happy to be one of those gunmen lol.

I recall (art history 101, 102) there being more than the one work made in this theme, so if you are ever in Norway drop by and see the other three. Now IF you could sell all four together, what would that be worth? A billion?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scream

From Wiki:

Edvard Munch created four versions of The Scream in various media. The National Gallery, Oslo, holds one of two painted versions (1893, shown to right). The Munch Museum holds the other painted version (1910, see gallery) and one pastel. The fourth version (pastel, 1895) sold for a record $119,922,500 at Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern art auction on 2 May 2012 to an unspecified private buyer.[1]
The Scream has been the target of several high-profile art thefts. In 1994, the version in the National Gallery was stolen. It was recovered several months later. In 2004, both The Scream and Madonna were stolen from the Munch Museum, and recovered two years later.

I always find it funny when people steal art of this profile and value. You would have one hell of a time selling it and if you bought the stolen painting its not like you can show it off to anyone.

Very interesting book I read last year about a former FBI art crime guy:

"Priceless: How I Went Undercover to Rescue the World's Stolen Treasures" - Robert Wittman

There's a substantial underground network of art thieves and brokers. The people who buy them get great satisfaction from just owning the piece, even though they can't boast about it easily without getting caught. The selling price for a stolen piece is usually a small fraction of what it would fetch on the open market though.