Edvard Munch's "The Scream": the RM357 million artwork

"The Scream" is the best-known artwork by the Norwegian expressionist artist Edvard Munch (1863-1944).

It has 4 versions, done between 1893 and 1910. All basically depict an agonized figure against a red sky, with the landscape in the background being the Oslofjord, viewed from Ekeberg, Oslo.

The composition is part of a series The Frieze of Life, in which Munch explored the themes of love, fear, death, melancholia, and anxiety.

The following version, done in 1895, sold for USD119,922,500 on 2nd May 2012 to an unspecified buyer. It's the most expensive work of art ever sold in an auction, beating Pablo Picasso's "Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust" which went for USD106.5 million in 2010.

At the bottom of its frame, is Munch's self-written description of the image:

I was walking along a path with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.