Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’ sells for record $120 million at Sotheby’s

May 2 (Bloomberg) -- Edvard Munch’s “The Scream,” one of the most iconic and copied images in art history, sold for $119.9 million at Sotheby’s tonight, the highest price paid for a work of art at auction.

The result smashed the previous record of $106.5 million, established in May 2010 by Pablo Picasso’s “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust.”

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(HO/AFP/GETTY IMAGES) - This image obtained February 21, 2012 courtesy of Sotheby's in New York shows Edvard Munch's painting 'The Scream\" dated 1895 pastel on board in the artist’s original frame Executed in 1895.

The 1895 pastel-on-board Munch work was the most-talked- about lot of the current New York auctions, which run through May 11 and may tally $1.5 billion.

After auctioneer Tobias Meyer started the bidding, it went for about 12 minutes and almost exclusively from the phones. The winner was a phone bidder who is a client of Charles Moffett, Sotheby’s vice chairman for Impressionist and modern art.

The work, featuring a hairless androgynous creature with mouth agape and hands covering the ears, comes from the collection of Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, whose father, Thomas, was a friend, neighbor and patron of the artist.

Proceeds will go to establish a new museum in Hvitsten, Norway, where Munch and Thomas Olsen lived.

“The Scream” has appeared on T-shirts and mugs, and has inspired scenes on “The Simpsons” television series and in the 1990 movie “Home Alone.”

Munch made four versions of the image, two in oil and two in pastel. Three of them are in the museum collections in Norway. Sotheby’s version was the last in private hands.

Thefts and Bets

Two versions have been stolen from museums in Oslo, one in 1994, another in 2004. Both were subsequently recovered.

Ladbrokes, a London-based bookie, said there was a 12-to-1 chance that Sotheby’s Munch would be stolen before the bidding begins.

Sotheby’s Impressionist and modern art sale is continuing. Its 76 lots are estimated by the auction house to tally $245.9 million to $322.7 million.