Associated Press – ‘The Scream’ Auctioned for $119.9M in NYC

Published on May 2, 2012
One of the art world’s most recognizable images — Edvard Munch’s “The Scream” — sold Wednesday for a record $119,922,500 at auction in New York City. The buyer’s name was not released. (May 2)

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Comments:

Joseph Johnson 9 months ago
The way he moves his arms the auctioneer could pass for a shitty DJ

Keith Lightminder 9 months ago
Money goes down in value, art goes up. Trade in your money for art!

gusTavo fernÁndez 1 year ago
AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fino Sosa 1 year ago
grito?????

ENDRENOABORTION 3 years ago
now, what are these occupy people so upset about ?

plague1313 3 years ago
That is a retarded amount of money to blow on something my 4 year old daughter can draw

Annyong Rings 3 years ago
This is the worst auctioneer I’ve ever seen

Free6969 3 years ago in reply to All Seeing Guy
co-sign

Vladimir0538 3 years ago in reply to SAMSON12321
No, he was posing to show his muscles.

Coogy2391 3 years ago
He keeps doing the Usain Bolt celebration

brotherbri 3 years ago in reply to Happy Chunks
haha, you just made me spit all over my screen!

Bro, Do you even FEEL? 3 years ago
bitches are crazy

den soulew 3 years ago
Nice aerobics man!

JeffersonDinedAlone 2 years ago
For an average pastel (a copy of the equally average painting) which Munch did in a day? Alrighty, then.

Fubs 3 years ago in reply to random guy on the internet
A lot more than that…

Roberto Merola 3 years ago
L’hanno messo all’asta? E prima a chi apparteneva?

loshilikes 3 years ago
Russian billionaires say that buying art means investment. So it is not the people of art buying them but the billionaires investing their money in art.

Neil Chan 3 years ago
119 million for the satisfaction of the idea of originality that comes with the painting

JMGEntertainmentify 3 years ago in reply to Happy Chunks
yea! we gotta feed our starving cracker population here in Amurica!!!

bigdog91paper 3 years ago
That painting looks like a kindergartner made it…wtf

MrDessverre 3 years ago
The auctioneer has learned moves from usain bolt.

Tony Touch 3 years ago
first of all they should have sexy ass models up there not fat guys. also they should have had fireworks or something go off. also the dollar is shit so this probably isnt much

The Acanthus/Plinth Type 2 years ago in reply to IronicallyVague
Let’s just say… the economy hasn’t hit my family that hard… it’s a period of spending and diversifying. That said, it’s never a bad time to do so. It’s true, “the only way to make money is to spend money.”.

Ladygagsalot 3 years ago
I would love to hang that painting in my bathroom, so I can look at it while taking a dump.

John Incognito 3 years ago in reply to moshpit19
I would bet it’s not a single entity who purchased the painting but an institution. Probably a museum or private philanthropist’s foundation.

UcheKO 3 years ago in reply to random guy on the internet
Way more than 10,000

MrMentalflossed 3 years ago in reply to atherburial
ahh let me interject a spot of thought,.. a clot in the flow if you will..
most people would view this as the most classless purchase , in the age of the slave and the low,..and the elite ,.the slave is forced to see his lifes worth is less then a over spoken impressionist ego trip for 1 man,..so i say simply , slave or master of slaves, this paintings worth is only in exposing the worthlessness of the ego of the new owners life,.. for in the end it will set on a wall as a reminder of his shame

KlingonSpider 3 years ago
“The buyer’s name was not released.” i’m sry, somebody who buys such an iconic painting and integral component of art history does not have the right to remain anonymous. works of art like this as far as im concerned belong to no one but man himself. they are the property of all, and the one that owns it is simply it’s protector and guardian preserving it for future generations to come. the buyer better loan it out to a museum to be put on display. it would be greedy to keep it all for him/her

FableCountry 3 years ago
Think he’d be directing air traffic…

ruwa070 3 years ago
whooooo bought this??? WAS IT QATAR????? i wanna knowwww!!!!!!

Blueguy85 3 years ago
what a waste of money…

a619ko 3 years ago
Who the hell has that much money to just chuck out!? Name them! I will meet them personally.

southport97 3 years ago
All those rich bastards fighting over that ugly painting. Hilarious and pathetic.

Blayne Wyatt 3 years ago in reply to John Incognito
Troll much

Ilyas Sheik 3 years ago
as someone who donated 56k dollars to save the children org and 23k in 2010 , i would rather donate that money to a children who needs it , rather then buying piece of paper .

JMGEntertainmentify 3 years ago in reply to arnelvargas
Mean while in America……people are starving and living on the streets to.

Nomoreidsleft 3 years ago
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!

DrLeroyGreen 3 years ago
It’s gonna look great over by my Elvis on Black Velvet in the garage.

arnelvargas 3 years ago
Mean while in africa….people are starving

Violent2aShadow 3 years ago
Tax the rich anyone?

moshpit19 3 years ago
i hpoe that milliionaire owns 100 charity foundations… helping the needy… if hes that rich…

Gabrielle Vega 3 years ago
I am selling stuff from my room because I have no money to buy food and these people just spent 120M in that ugly painting? I don’t care how symbolic it is. What is wrong with people?

NDBNTZ 3 years ago in reply to azurescens420
Are you implying that im going to pull 120,000,000 dollars out of my ass? It would be amazing if even make half of that in my entire lifetime.

Btw I volunteer and donate a percentage of my salary to an organization that deals with educating the excessively poor in the Americas. What have you done that has benefited this world? I mean other then wasted your seed on a napkin, because no one wants more ignorant little shits like you around.
Read more

TheVMFA333 3 years ago
i bet its going to China”

IronicallyVague 2 years ago in reply to The Acanthus/Plinth Type
So you know then?

My work is done 😛

Captin Blind 3 years ago
What The Fuck ????

David 3 years ago in reply to mikejr41387
there are like 5 different versions of the painting.

SOULFISTICATED 2 years ago
Didn’t know the secret to success and fortune lay in an investment in craoyola I need to get out my crayons and get to work if I want to become a millionaire!!!!!

Anthony video maker 2 years ago
too much $

NightScandie 3 years ago in reply to plague1313
haha, keep me updated

KlingonSpider 3 years ago in reply to atherburial
yeah… but, say the person decided he didnt like it anymore and wanted to cut it up. would that be okay? it is his/her property. she has the right to do that, right? i’d so no, she doesnt. see its all different when it comes to art. art is something far more complicated to be considered just “property”

2dogarage 3 years ago in reply to dudev
It’s not that good and I’m not talking about good enough for the price which of course it isn’t but as you say it’s not about art it’s about the investment, no one gives a shit about what the thing actually looks like, only what it’s worth.

Brian Rodriguez 3 years ago
I’d love to have the sum of money of all the people in that room and know that only 10 percent of that could change so much in this world. The contradictions I see in this world sometimes frighten me because of how abhorrent they are. This one especially frightens me.

Specter 3 years ago
now…. thats a waste of money!

Nomoreidsleft 3 years ago
Bought by Macaulay Culkin.

John Incognito 3 years ago
“What about the children!!!” Fuck the children. They should get a job like everyone else.

The Acanthus/Plinth Type 2 years ago in reply to IronicallyVague
also precious metals and real estate.

Rashik30 3 years ago
Everyone’s butthurt because they can never afford it. Lol

BiggerBoo95 3 years ago
Whoever bought this is REDICULOUS!! Probably some spoiled brat who either inhereted the money from their parents, or kisses the government’s ass at some job which requires no work. This should be in a museum where nobody could touch it, not for some brat to wave around and show off how wealthy they are. As for the $119,922,500, this should have gone to somebody who actually works for it or needs it.

cryenvy 3 years ago
“let’s hate on the rich for spending their money on things we dont want them to”

jrjdm86 3 years ago
Saving money for my kids college can’t buy that if I saved every dollar I get for the rest of my life

crizza2000 2 years ago
“The buyer’s name was not released”

…so who’s Charlie then?

John Incognito 3 years ago in reply to Ilyas Sheik
Yes, because surely that was just a “piece of paper.”

dudev 3 years ago in reply to 2dogarage
I once stood in line for two hours to see a Monet exhibit. The hundreds of people behind me didn’t seem to care about the prices of the pictures. I didn’t care. I like his work, and I wanted to see his paintings up close. The news media cares about prices, but people care about the work. That’s why they collect copies. Clearly your opinion of art is spoiled and cynical. Why don’t look for a painting you like, instead of concentrating on the one you dislike?

John Smith 2 years ago
Get your SWAG on! Silver wine art gold!

Checkpoint 3 years ago in reply to KlingonSpider
Because someone who can spend 119.9 million dollars on a painting cares about being greedy! 😉
I agree with you about art being property of humanity and the buyer being the guardian. Kudos! 🙂

Stevo 3 years ago
why not put this in a museum and tax this guy?

mikejr41387 3 years ago
that looks like a really dull, bad replica… the original painting is way more vibrant, and intricate… just look it up on wikipedia… that looks nothing like it…

Fritz Maisenbacher 2 years ago in reply to BiggerBoo95
Shut up , fucking communist .

Alice S 3 years ago in reply to 2dogarage
Art is not “good” because the painter painted the slightest details as if it is a photograph. That’s something the impressionists and expressionists wanted to break from. This painting is good because of the use of color, the proportions of the man and the most importantly, the dark emotion. That such a simple piece can portray such a mood is “good”. It is a shame that paintings are nowadays only known for their price tag.

dudev 3 years ago in reply to 2dogarage
It became a pop-culture symbol because it’s good. Not the other way around, Einstein. Your view is jaded because so many modern artists copy artists like Munch. This version of the Scream was painted in the 1890’s when nothing else like it existed in the art world. The price is crazy, but it’s not going to lose it’s value. That’s why investors buy such things.

ThaGenius101 3 years ago
@veggie530 ..it’s probably a person who got rich off of shipping jobs overseas and kicking poor people out of their homes. Or maybe a war profiteer who gets rich off of wars while spending up our tax money to live the high life. Ever think about that?

Bear Oldcastle 3 years ago
how many times has that thing been stolen anyways?

MrBradymoss 2 years ago in reply to IronicallyVague
grab all the silver, gold, palladium and art work you can gey your hands on…The world is in a world of hurt!

theminimalisto 3 years ago
Bank people are becoming so rich they don’ t even know where to put their money.

boomboominroom 3 years ago
$119.9M for a painting that looks like it was done with crayons.

SAMSON12321 3 years ago
Was that auctioneer doing some type of awkward martial arts? Or a new form of Tai Chi? In either case the painting looks like a child’s finger painting…I can’t believe someone paid 119.922.500 dollars for that. BTW notice the first three numbers are 911 backwards? Hmmm. The next three numbers 922 is the day the worlds stock markets plunged in 2011 after the IMF talked double digit inflation. Is this sale a warning of another event that will destroy the markets?

Alice S 3 years ago in reply to SAMSON12321
If you think that looks like a childs painting, then go try and paint a masterpiece yourself. We’ll see how that will turn out, loser

NightScandie 3 years ago in reply to SAMSON12321
haha, best over-analyzing i read in a while…

NightScandie 3 years ago in reply to random guy on the internet
Nothing new, they always can, and many more. This is an investment, the money-value might drop but not the pictures value. Also, it brings tourists if it was bought by a museum.

narutospearman 3 years ago in reply to random guy on the internet
Or N. Korea. Or China, or Turkrey, or Germany, or the USA too.

Edward Okarimia 2 years ago
Good to see that the auctioneer is a Usain Bolt fan.

sketchyj 3 years ago
those ghostface paintings are even more popular than freddy paintings

Gabrielle Vega 3 years ago
This was so painful to watch… People would really pay that much for a paintig

SAMSON12321 3 years ago in reply to NightScandie
Like the Lottery…”IT COULD HAPPEN” you never know with these fools in government today. They plan a event and disguise it in something a simple as a sale of a piece of artwork. Don’t let anything slip by, trust no one (winks left eye)

TheBahram203 3 years ago
WOW, this means that that room has AT LEAST 12 billionaires in it !

valhala56 3 years ago
Great pic, makes me think of all of humanity soon when the Shit hits the fan. Worth every penney.

The Football Show 2 years ago
I wouldn’t go more $10 for this shit…I will rather search in my lil sister’s kindergarten paintings and probably find a better one

CrialCrial 3 years ago
Must be nice to have that kind of money to toss around.

The Football Show 2 years ago
I probably painted this in my kind

JustCarefree 3 years ago
whhyyyy

atherburial 3 years ago in reply to KlingonSpider
There are four replications of “The Scream” and one of them is already in a museum. Chances are that this painting was already in someone’s private collection, and if the person is willing to shell money out for it, I see nothing wrong for that person to keep it in their personal collection.

WWaveform Creations 3 years ago
I can get 100 Bugatti Veyrons for that painting

wilbar2922 3 years ago
That auctioneer was terrible. I thought they were supposed to talk really fast.

IronicallyVague 3 years ago
The rich realize the currency is collapsing & it will soon be worthless…By buying works of art it’s one way to preserve their wealth for when a replacement currency is created.

Zofnok 2 years ago in reply to BiggerBoo95
No government job pays enough from any man to be able to buy a 100 million dollar painting, even the president himself only makes $400,000.00 per year. And the person who brought this painting is Leon Black, he is the founder of a private equity firm. He’s also on the board of directors at 2 major art museums. Please don’t speak so loosely about things you don’t know about.

John Incognito 3 years ago in reply to mikejr41387
Maybe you should inform the Sotheby’s experts who have devoted their lives to art research and history. I’m sure they’d be fascinated by your conclusion. You can even show them the Wikipedia picture to prove it.

plague1313 3 years ago in reply to NightScandie
way ahead of you..lol

Roderick Rodriguez 3 years ago
The auctioneer is funny. He got moves.

2dogarage 3 years ago
There is nothing significant about this painting other than what pop culture has assigned to it, 120 mil for a glorified refrigerator adornment is the art crime of the century.

moviedude22 3 years ago
speechless

Ryan S 3 years ago
it’s their money, if they dont wanna save kids in africa, they dont have too

Footie Fan 3 years ago
lol 69

knoose 3 years ago
To me there is almost a sense of being disrespect to the art at wanting to own this yourself.
I would feel awkward.
And why is it not in a museum?

tyILerrr 3 years ago
that’s pretty awesome.

trancezustand 3 years ago
lol what a shitty painting

NDBNTZ 3 years ago
Wow, Its probably one of the most recognizable works of art, but is it really worth that much.

Kids are dying everywhere. Just take ten percent of that and you can make millions of people happy.

Potatoe Poo 3 years ago in reply to Gabrielle Vega
stop paying for internet and sell your laptop two, you poor ass fucktard take your problems elsewhere.

flappyism 3 years ago
Let’s dubstep this vid

Alex Zapata 3 years ago
i scream at how ugly it is

veggie530 3 years ago
I like how all the comments are people bitching about what people paid for this. You do realize that it isn’t your fucking money, right?

MultiCrazyman10 3 years ago
first comment

Happy Chunks 3 years ago in reply to random guy on the internet
Fuck those little nigglets.

Fino Sosa 1 year ago
grito?????

ENDRENOABORTION 3 years ago
now, what are these occupy people so upset about ?

plague1313 3 years ago
That is a retarded amount of money to blow on something my 4 year old daughter can draw

Annyong Rings 3 years ago
This is the worst auctioneer I’ve ever seen

Free6969 3 years ago in reply to All Seeing Guy
co-sign

Vladimir0538 3 years ago in reply to SAMSON12321
No, he was posing to show his muscles.

Coogy2391 3 years ago
He keeps doing the Usain Bolt celebration

brotherbri 3 years ago in reply to Happy Chunks
haha, you just made me spit all over my screen!

Bro, Do you even FEEL? 3 years ago
bitches are crazy

den soulew 3 years ago
Nice aerobics man!

JeffersonDinedAlone 2 years ago
For an average pastel (a copy of the equally average painting) which Munch did in a day? Alrighty, then.

Fubs 3 years ago in reply to random guy on the internet
A lot more than that…

Roberto Merola 3 years ago
L’hanno messo all’asta? E prima a chi apparteneva?

loshilikes 3 years ago
Russian billionaires say that buying art means investment. So it is not the people of art buying them but the billionaires investing their money in art.

Neil Chan 3 years ago
119 million for the satisfaction of the idea of originality that comes with the painting

JMGEntertainmentify 3 years ago in reply to Happy Chunks
yea! we gotta feed our starving cracker population here in Amurica!!!

bigdog91paper 3 years ago
That painting looks like a kindergartner made it…wtf

MrDessverre 3 years ago
The auctioneer has learned moves from usain bolt.