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.

Highest price ever paid for a work of art: Cézanne's The Card Players [July 2011]

Here it is, the most expensive painting ever sold.

Painter: French Post-Impressionist artist Paul Cézanne
Title: The Card Players
Date painted: 1892-93
Type: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 97 × 130 cm

Buyer: the royal family of Qatar
Seller: Greek shipping magnate George Embiricos (private collection)
Date sold: July 2011
Price: USD250 million (RM750 million)

This price beat the previous record by a considerable amount, which was USD156.8 (adjusted, equiv to RM470 million) for Jackson Pollock's "No. 5, 1948" in November 2006.

On a personal note, while it seems to require more skill to create than Pollock's painting, it still seems to be within reach of a secondary school's art class, no?

The fish that cost more than RM8,000 per kg

And I thought that my RM220 per kg lobster was expensive...

It was reported on 5th January 2012 that a 269kg bluefin tuna has broken the world record for most expensive fish, selling for USD736,000 – almost double the previous record of almost USD396,000 for a 342kg fish (also the same type of tuna).

In terms of price by weight, it also set the new record: USD2,717 per kg; that’s more than RM8,000 per kg. Goodness knows what the price would be when it reaches the restaurants.

This particular type of tuna makes the best sushi.

It was sold at the famous first auction of the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo, to Kiyoshi Kimura, proprietor of a sushi eatery chain.

It was caught off Oma, Aomori prefecture, north of the tsunami-struck coast.

Trawling around for comparisons:

- sturgeon caviar can fetch USD16,000 per kg.
- the arowana can fetch six figures (RM)
- the empurau (freshwater), which can fetch up to RM1,800 per kg in KL restaurants.