Another painting by famed Norwegian artist Edvard Munch has been sold for a dizzying amount of money at auction in New York. After being appraised at around USD 50 million, it actually sold Monday night for USD 54,487,500.
The painting is one of 12 known versions of Pikene på broen (The girls on the bridge), painted in the coastal town of Åsgårdstrand where Munch spent his summers for several years. Instead of huddling near the railing of a pier extending into the Oslo Fjord, as in the most famous versions of the painting, the girls depcted in the painting are standing more in the middle of the pier.
Auction house Sotheby’s handled the auction of the painting for an anonymous seller, who reportedly had paid USD 30.8 million for the painting in 2008. The auction came four years after the record-breaking auction of Munch’s most famous painting, Skriket (The Scream). It was sold, by Norwegian shipping heir Petter Olsen, for USD 119.9 million in 2012.
newsinenglish.no staff
