Friday 4 May 2012

640 crores for a painting!!! (Q.no.114) name the painting and name the author

ANSWER:The Scream (Norwegian: Skrik) >>>>is the name given to each of four versions of a composition, created as bothpaintings and lithographs, by the Expressionist artistEdvard Munch between 1893 and 1910. The works all show a figure with an agonized expression against a landscape with a red sky. The landscape in the background is the Oslofjord, viewed from Ekeberg, Oslo, Norway.
Edvard Munch created the four versions of The Scream in various media. The National Gallery, Oslo, holds one of two painted versions (1893, shown at right). The Munch Museum holds the other painted version (1910, seegallery) and one pastel. The fourth version (pastel, 1895) sold for $119,922,500 at Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern art auction on 2 May 2012 to a private buyer,[]the highest nominal price paid for a painting at auction.[2](The Card Players by Paul Cézanne was sold privately in 2011 for between $250 and 300 million[3]).
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.
Thieves taking paintings from the Munch Museum in Oslo on 22 August 2004. Photo taken by unidentified bystander.


The 1895 pastel-on-board version of the painting, owned by Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, sold at Sotheby's for a record US$120 million at auction on 2 May 2012 The bidding started at $40 million and lasted for over 12 minutes when an unnamed bidder by phone gave the final offer of US$119,922,500, including the buyer's premium. Sotheby's said the painting was the most colorful and vibrant of the four versions painted by Munch and the only version whose frame was hand-painted by the artist to include his poem, detailing the work's inspiration. After the sale, Sotheby's auctioneer Tobias Meyer said the painting was "worth every penny", adding: "It is one of the great icons of art in the world and whoever bought it should be congratulated."
The previous record for the most expensive work of art sold at auction had been held by Picasso'sNude, Green Leaves and Bust,

 which went for US$106.5 million at Christie's two years prior on 4 May 2010.. When accounting for inflation, the highest price paid for art at an auction is still held by Van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gachet, which sold for $82.5 million in 1990, or about $147 million 2012 dollars. There have been reports that The Card Players, by Cézanne, sold privately for $250m in 2011.