LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The Sotheby sale, entitled of Impressionist and Modern Art featured other works by Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali and Joan Miro. Munch's colorful masterpiece overshadowed all the other pieces at the auction in a salesroom packed with collectors, bidders and the media.

The famous pastel from 1895 was at first conservatively estimated to sell for about $80 million, but two determined bidders drove the final price to $107 million, or $119,922,500 including commission, during a 15-minute bidding war.

"The Scream" easily eclipsed the old auction record held by Picasso's "Nude, Green Leaves and Bust," which went for $106.5 million at Christie's two years ago. The painting sold was one of four versions by the Scandinavian painter being sold by Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen.

The crowd at Sotheby's erupted in applause when the hammer came down. The buyer, who won the auction via telephone bidding, has not yet been identified by Sotheby's.

"The Scream," a picture of a person with hands pressed to head against a backdrop of swirling vibrant colors, has become a ubiquitous image, appropriated for everything from coffee mugs to editorial cartoons. "The Scream" is perhaps only second in familiarity to Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" and is certainly among the best-known works of art still in private hands.

Painted in 1893, "The Scream" has been widely interpreted as representing the universal anxiety of modern man. Painted with broad bands of garish color and highly simplified forms, and employing a high viewpoint, the agonized figure is reduced to a garbed skull in the throes of an emotional crisis. With this painting, Munch met his stated goal of "the study of the soul, that is to say the study of my own self"

Three other images of "The Scream," including two which were stolen and later recovered, remain in Norwegian art museums.

The Sotheby's auction altogether brought in $330.6 million and 80 percent of the lots on offer were sold. It was Sotheby's highest total ever for an Impressionist and Modern Art auction.

Picasso's "Femme assise dans un fauteuil" sold for $29.2 million, Miro's "Tete humaine" went under the hammer at $14.86 million and Dali's "Printemps necrophilique" was auctioned at $16.3 million. All those prices included sales commission.

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