‘The Scream’ set to fetch €60m

Sotheby’s will offer the only privately owned version of Edvard Munch’s haunting work The Scream at an auction in New York on May 2, where it is expected to fetch more than $80m (€60m).

The 1895 work is owned by Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, whose father Thomas was a friend, neighbour and patron of Munch, the auctioneer said.

There are four versions of the famous depiction of a figure facing out with its hands to its ears, apparently screaming. The three others belong to Norwegian museum collections.