Scream Painting sold for $120 million:

[DickButtonFan]

I always found this painting to be so ugly

It set a new world record for a work of art sold at auction.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/02/us/new...html?hpt=hp_t1

[overedge]

I always found this painting to be so ugly

It set a new world record for a work of art sold at auction.
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/02/us/new...html?hpt=hp_t1

It's supposed to be ugly. Did you read the quote from the artist in the story, describing his inspiration?

I'm astounded that it went for so much over the estimated price. And I also suspect that the "unknown buyer" is a bazillionaire who will hang it in their house or keep it in a bank vault, which will be a shame as the public will probably be deprived of the opportunity to see it.

[essence_of_soy]

This painting is iconic, and I love that the following article alludes to it as inspiration for the Home Alone poster:

http://flavorwire.com/240462/a-look-...-culture?all=1

[FigureSpins]

I thought there were four versions of "The Scream?" It's DH's favorite work of art, lol.
I gave him a print for his birthday one year and he loved it!

[Marge_Simpson]

I have a throw pillow with The Scream printed on it, my brother gave it to me as a gag gift several years ago. It has one of those voice box thingies inside it, and it screams when you squeeze it.

[Buzz]

All I can say is wow. It is news like this that get me thinking the Occupy movement may just be onto something.

[duane]

The painting looks like something you would see on a refrigerator...along with all the other crayon drawings by the parent's young kids.

But oh, how nice it must be to have the money to spend $120 million for, well, anything.

[Rob]

I have a throw pillow with The Scream printed on it, my brother gave it to me as a gag gift several years ago. It has one of those voice box thingies inside it, and it screams when you squeeze it.

How awesome! I have a T Shirt with The Scream on it, and I would scream too if you squeeze me.

[UMBS Go Blue]

Earlier articles from the WSJ:

Painting drew interest from Chinese and Middle Eastern investors

Cool slideshow

Today's headline

In a dogged contest at the auction house's New York saleroom, the bidding for Munch's "Scream" began at $40 million and shot up quickly, with five bidders from the U.S. and China competing for the sunset-colored portrait. But as the price topped $80 million, the fight came down to a pair of telephone bidders and the room, hushed as a church service, whispered as the bids logged higher. When the bidding crossed the $100 million mark, an auction first, auctioneer Tobias Meyer adjusted his tuxedo jacket and told the bidders, "Can I say I love you?" The room chuckled. After 12 minutes, the gavel fell and Charlie Moffett, a Sotheby's specialist who often represents American buyers, fielded the anonymous winning phone bid.

Yet...

Dealers say the likely buyers include Qatar's royal family, which declined to comment, and billionaires from Greece and Russia.

Other articles on how wealthy investors from the emerging world are changing the art scene and art valuations:

Chinese painters coming into demand

Chinese bidders entering the market

[Garden Kitty]

I thought there were four versions of "The Scream?"

There are. The other three are on display in museums, this is the only one held by a private collector.

[UMBS Go Blue]

Chart of high-priced art sales from The Economist

[FigureSpins]

There are. The other three are on display in museums, this is the only one held by a private collector.

Oh, I thought this might have been the version that was stolen from the museum. I see they recovered that one and it's back in a museum.

Wow - if this version went for that much money, imagine how much museum collections are worth. It's a staggering concept, way beyond my boggle factor.

[UMBS Go Blue]

The "mystery" winning bidder for "The Scream" wasn't from Russia or China, but from the U.S.: financier Leon Black.

WSJ article

Now that the buyer has been identified, the new parlor game surrounding the iconic artwork will be guessing where it will end up. Mr. Black's long-term intentions for his Munch remain unclear. He sits on the boards of New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art, setting up a potential tug of war between two of the country's most powerful art institutions. Neither owns a "Scream," aside from lithograph-print versions of it.

Black has endowed a new visual arts center at Dartmouth College and has also donated a new sculpture for the exterior of the adjoining auditorium. I suggest he solve the following dilemma:

Mr. Black began collecting drawings as a teenager, and his walls are still dotted with clusters of framed sketches by Honoré Daumier, Georges Seurat, Paul Cézanne and van Gogh, dealers say. He also has purchased a few contemporary works by artists like Andy Warhol. (In March he and his wife gave his alma mater, Dartmouth College, $48 million to build a new visual arts center adorned with an Ellsworth Kelly wall sculpture.)

"I wish museum directors knew as much about art as Leon Black does," said Richard Feigen, an Old Master dealer who said he has known the collector for several decades and has sold him art. "Nobody has his wingspan."

...by donating "The Scream" to the Hood Museum of Art. Since Black was also a trustee of Dartmouth College and signed off on a renovation of the College-owned Hanover Inn that encountered massive cost overruns, then perhaps making Hanover an instant tourist destination with "The Scream" would help the College earn back those overruns more quickly.

[UMBS Go Blue]

I noticed that, in an earlier post, I quoted an WSJ article hinting that the winning buyer was American because the buyer was represented by Charles Moffett. Indeed, from the latest article:

Whatever his reasons for wanting "The Scream," Mr. Black competed hard to win it. During Sotheby's May 2 sale in New York, auctioneer Tobias Meyer kicked off the bidding for the work at $40 million, and five bidders from the U.S. and China joined in. Among them was Mr. Black, who fielded his telephone bids through Charles Moffett, Sotheby's executive vice president and vice chairman of its world-wide Impressionist, modern and contemporary art department. As the price topped $80 million, the fight came down to Mr. Black and another telephone bidder, whose bids began to waver and lag as the price climbed higher still. Mr. Black's bids came quickly, suggesting less hesitation.

When the bidding crossed the $100 million mark, an auction first, Mr. Meyer adjusted his tuxedo jacket at his rostrum and said, "Can I say I love you?" The hundreds of people packed into the house's York Avenue saleroom chuckled. When the gavel finally fell, Mr. Moffett smiled, whispered his congratulations to Mr. Black and hung up.

[UMBS Go Blue]

Quick 90-second excerpt of the 12-minute auction:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXePZ1OPl7s

[Wyliefan]

All I can say is wow. It is news like this that get me thinking the Occupy movement may just be onto something.

What, you think great art should sell for five bucks a pop?

[Buzz]

Neh... $5.50 at least

[milanessa]

Neh... $5.50 at least

I bid $10.

[DarrellH]

I'm saving up for the "Draw Binky" auction.

[Tinami Amori]

All I can say is wow. It is news like this that get me thinking the Occupy movement may just be onto something.

Lev Blakovich bought the painting. His father, Manahen Blakovich, as a child with his family, escaped from ethnic cleansing (“pogroms”) in Poland and came to USA right before the Great Depression. His family worked and he studied through the period of the Great Depression.

In the late 40’s/early 50’s, due to his high academic achievements, hard work, and perseverance, he was hired by some of the top financial institutions in New York, and his career took off from there. His son Lev followed his footsteps.

Perhaps the “occupiers” instead of “occupying” should meet the Blakvoich family and ask them to teach them the methods of hard work and sacrifice.. .

But they probably won’t do that…. So maybe US government should deport the occupiers to some troubled country and have them immigrate with empty pockets and just clothes on their backs back to USA… maybe then their brains will snap into place about what to do when you come to the land of unlimited opportunities…