The Scream

The Scream is a well-known masterpiece by Norwegian Expressionist artist Edvard Munch between 1893 - 1910.  Munch created four versions of it.  There are two paintings and two pastels.

Munch's Self-Portrait with Cigarette. 

The National Gallery in Oslo has one of the paintings.  The Munch Museum has a painting and a pastel.  The second pastel sold at Sotheby's in 2012 for $119,922,600.  This was the second highest price ever paid for a painting at auction.

This is a popular item to steal.  The Scream and another piece were stolen from the Munch Museum in 2004 but were both recovered in 2006.

The Scream, 1893

In 1994, on the opening day of the Lillehammer Olympics, two men broke in to the National Gallery and stole its painting.  The rub is that they left a note..."Thanks for the poor security".  The thieves demanded a $1 million ransom.  Norwegian and British police recovered the painting about three months later.

One of the best things about living in Europe is getting to see original masterpieces.  I'm just glad I got to see The Scream before someone tried to nick it again.