Love and Pain by Edvard Munch via Art Market Monitor.
Edvard Munch’s 1894 painting Love and Pain, known as Vampire, will be auctioned at Sotheby’s New York November 3, 2008. The piece has been in private hands for the past 70 years and will be the feature work during Sotheby’s evening sale of Impressionist and Modern Art. It is estimated that the painting will sell for $35 million surpassing the existing Munch record of $30.8 set this past May for Girls on a Bridge. The painting which is said to represent love, sex, and death shows a woman and man in embrace. It is one of four paintings by Munch that explores the same theme, the other three works are housed in institutions in Oslo and Gothenburg. Curiously, the work was painted within years of Bram Stoker publishing the hugely popular ‘Dracula’ which may have caused the painting to be effectively renamed in popular culture. [Coxsoft] Prior to its sale the work will be displayed at Sotheby’s London from October 3-7, and in Moscow from October 16-19.
Iconic Masterwork by Edvard Munch to be Sold by Sotheby’s New York on November 3, 2008 [Sotheby’s Press Release]
Munch’s Vampire to be auctioned [BBC News]
Munch’s Vampire Comes to Market [Art Market Monitor]
Munch’s Vampire Goes Up for Sale With $35 Million Estimate [Art Info]
Iconic Masterwork by Edvard Munch to be Sold by Sotheby’s New York in November [Art Daily]
Girls on a Bridge by Edvard Munch, via Invaluable. The piece sold for $30.8 million last spring.
The Scream by Edvard Munch, via Ibiblio. The work is Munch’s most famed and is a part of The Frieze of Life series which the painting Love and Pain is also a part of. Munch created several versions of The Scream, many of which have been the target of recent theft. In 1994 the version owned by National Gallery of Norway was stolen, only to be recovered several months later. In 2004 the artist’s The Scream and Madonna were stolen from the Munch Museum in Norway, both paintings were recovered in 2006.
