The painting that launched the classic “Home Alone” moment is going on the auctioneer block — and could go for as much as $80 million.
Edvard Munch created four versions of “The Scream,” and only one remains in a private collection.
The drawing of a man holding his head and screaming under a streaked, blood-red sky is being sold by Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, whose father was a friend and patron of Munch’s.
“I have lived with this work all my life, and its power and energy have only increased with time,” Olsen told The New York Times. “Now, however, I feel the moment has come to offer the rest of the world a chance to own and appreciate this remarkable work, which is the only version of ‘The Scream’ not in the collection of a Norwegian museum.”
Olsen’s version is special because it is the most colorful of the four, and the frame itself was painted by Munch. It also features a hand-carved poem by the artist: “I felt a whiff of Melancholy — I stood / Still, deathly tired.”
“The Scream” has become a modern icon of human anxiety and existentialism.
Experts estimate that the painting could sell for $80 million or more — the highest pre-sale estimate ever given to an artwork.
“Given how rarely true icons come to the market, it is difficult to predict ‘The Scream’s’ value,” Simon Shaw, senior vice president and head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art, told Reuters. “The recent success of masterpieces at Sotheby’s suggests that the price could exceed $80 million.”
Shaw said that “The Scream” is one of the most instantly recognizable works of art, next to Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa.”
In the nineties, the painting was the catalyst for Kevin McAllister’s famous “Home Alone” moment. The image of a screaming Kevin in the hallway of his Chicago home was plastered on movie posters and DVD covers worldwide.
While Kevin was clearly distraught over the fact that he was left home alone when his entire family went to Paris during his “Scream” moment, we don’t think he was feeling the same existentialist thoughts of anxiety and dread that Munch did.
Material from the Associated Press was used in this report