Iconic Munch Could Fetch $35M

Pablo Picasso makes 2 appearances

(NEWSER) - Following the record-breaking sale of Edvard Munch's The Scream , the Guardian takes a look at the other biggest sales of art at auction. The top five:

1. Edvard Munch, The Scream, $119.9 million.
2. Pablo Picasso, Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust, $106.5 million.
3. Alberto Giacometti, L'homme qui Marche I, $105.2 million.
4. Pablo Picasso, Boy With a Pipe, $104.2 million.
5. Gustav Klimt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II, $87.9 million.

Dining-hall paintings show lighter side of Scream painter

(NEWSER) - The painter of The Scream was also an interior decorator of sorts: Edvard Munch painted a set of murals long displayed in the dining hall of an Oslo factory. Now, that canteen—currently owned by Kraft Foods—could be on its way to a sale, paintings included. Officials plan to keep an eye on the potential sale since the canteen is regarded as a national treasure; Kraft says it will make sure the paintings enter safe hands, the BBC reports. More»

British auction house has 13 thought to be painted by him

(NEWSER) - A British auction house will sell 13 paintings next month attributed to a minor Austrian-born amateur artist: Adolf Hitler. The works, which include a supposed self-portrait signed "AH," were found by a soldier in 1945, Reuters reports, though lingering doubts remain about authenticity. Two years ago, 21 Hitler paintings sold for $172,000. "They're not exactly the greatest pictures in the world," said the historical documents expert holding the sale. More»

Hidden away because it showed a breast

(NEWSER) - A provocative 18th Century painting, hidden in the attic of a French chateau for decades because it featured a woman with a breast exposed, has fetched $4.1 million from an anonymous buyer at a Christie's auction in London, reports the Daily Telegraph. The price was three times its estimated value. More»

Artist's 1976 masterpiece sells for $86M at red-hot Sotheby's sale

(NEWSER) - A 1976 triptych painting by Francis Bacon became the most expensive piece of contemporary art ever sold when it went for $86.2 million at auction last night, Reuters reports. Seventeen other artists also set records at the sale, boosting Sotheby's to the best night in its 300-year history and quashing predictions that the economic slowdown would douse the red-hot market for postwar art. More»