The Scream sells for record price at auction
Level 3
Advanced
1 Warmer
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NEWS LESSONS / The Scream sells for record price at auction / Advanced
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Name ten famous artists and the title of a painting by each of them. Write your answers in the picture frames.
The Scream sells for record price at auction
Level 3
Advanced
2 Find the information
Scan the article to find the information.
1. What is the name and nationality of the painter?
2. What is the title of the painting?
3. What price was it recently sold for?
4. Where was it sold?
3 Words to describe people
a. Find words in the article used to describe people and write them next to the definitions below.
1. someone who offers a sum of money to buy an item at an auction _________________________
2. the job title of the person who is in charge of the sale at an auction _________________________
3. the main bad character in a play, film or book _________________________
4. someone who paints in a way that emphasizes emotions and reactions to things rather than objects as they
really appear _________________________
5. someone who supports the work of writers, artists, musicians, etc. especially by giving them money
_________________________
b. For each of the words above, who is being specifically described?
1. ______________________________________________________________
2. ______________________________________________________________
3. ______________________________________________________________
4. ______________________________________________________________
5. ______________________________________________________________
4 Informal words and expressions
Find words and expressions in the article that are synonyms for the following.
1. normal people ________________________________ (para 1)
2. paying a lot of money for something ________________________________ (para 1)
3. films in which there is a lot of blood or violence ________________________________ (para 5)
4. a psychiatrist ________________________________ (para 7)
5. the cost of something very expensive ________________________________ (para 12)
6. something that costs less than you expect ________________________________ (para 12)
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7. to get hold of something and make it your own ________________________________ (para 12)
The Scream sells for record price at auction
Level 3
Advanced
The Scream sells for record $120m
at auction
Edvard Munch’s painting bought by unnamed
telephone bidder during auction at Sotheby’s in
New York
Paul Harris
3 May, 2012
1 To mere mortals it hardly seemed like a bargain.
But someone, somewhere, has decided that
owning a rare version of Edvard Munch’s 1895
painting, The Scream, was worth shelling out an
eye-watering $119.9 million.
2 The price, one of the highest ever paid for a
work of art, was reached after just 12 minutes
of bidding and paid by a so-far anonymous
telephone bidder.
3 As the auctioneer’s gavel came down at
Sotheby’s in New York, the crowd in the room
cheered the remarkable event. Bidding had
started at a relatively modest $40 million with at
least five interested parties but the field narrowed
as the price skyrocketed.
4 One of only four versions of the work in existence
and widely regarded as the best, the painting
sold on Thursday night is one of a handful of
artistic images that have crossed over from the
world of high art to popular culture.
5 It has inspired film references, from the
knife-wielding villain of the Scream slasher
movies to a famous scene in Home Alone, where
child star Macaulay Culkin imitated the painting’s
famous pose.
poem explaining the work’s inspiration. Munch
described himself “shivering with anxiety” and
feeling “the great scream in nature”.
9 It was sold by Norwegian businessman Petter
Olsen, whose father was a friend and patron
of the artist. Proceeds of the sale will fund a
new museum, art centre and hotel in Hvitsten,
Norway, where Olsen’s father and Munch
were neighbours.
10 “It is a unique chance for someone to acquire this
version. It is the crown jewel of the four but you
really need a national budget to buy it. And not
the budget of a small country either,” said Winter.
11 The Scream will join a select group of works that
have sold for more than $100 million, including
Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust, which
sold in 2010 for $106.5 million.
12 Yet even that hefty price tag feels like a snip
compared with the staggering $250 million paid
by oil-rich Qatar to snag Paul Cezanne’s The
Card Players for a new art museum. Details of the
deal struck in 2011 only emerged in early 2012.
13 Simon Shaw, head of Sotheby’s Impressionist
and Modern Art in New York, said the work was
one of the most important to ever emerge from
private hands on to the open market.
14 “Instantly recognizable, this is one of the very few
images that transcends art history and reaches
a global icon. The Scream arguably embodies
even greater power today than when it was
conceived,” he said.
6 It is also celebrated by the therapy industry with
its horrific depiction of stress and terror.
© Guardian News and Media 2012
First published in The Guardian, 03/05/12
7 “This is not a a beautiful landscape in Surrey
or a harbour on the French Riviera. It is a
representation of extreme anxiety. Imagine if
a shrink in London had this on their wall. It’s
a fantastic painting for their profession. Of
course, they could not afford it,” said Mark
Winter, director of Munch Experts, a company
specializing in appraising and valuing works by
the Norwegian expressionist.
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8 This version is the only one whose frame
was hand-painted by the artist to include his
The Scream sells for record price at auction
Level 3
Advanced
5 Comprehension check
Are these statements true (T) or false (F) according to the article? Correct any that are false.
1. The highest sum ever paid for a single work of art is $119.9 million.
2. The buyer is from Qatar.
3. The money from the sale of the painting will pay for an art gallery, a museum and a private clinic.
4. Four other versions of this painting exist.
5. This version is special as it includes a poem written by the artist.
6. The picture is well known to many people, not only those in the art world.
6 Discussion
Discuss the following questions in small groups.
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Is $119.9 million a justifiable amount of money for this work of art?
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Why are people willing to pay so much money for art?
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Would you want any of the paintings mentioned in the article hanging in your home?
7 Webquest
Watch a video of the auction and then search the internet to find out what a ‘buyer’s premium’ is.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/video/2012/may/03/scream-auction-new-york-video
The poem on the frame of this version of The Scream starts I was walking along the road with two friends
… How does it continue?
Take a look at an interactive analysis of The Scream.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/interactive/2012/may/03/edvard-munch-scream-interactive
NEWS LESSONS / The Scream sells for record price at auction / Advanced
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Watch a slide show of the ten most expensive auctioned pieces of art.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/gallery/2012/may/03/most-expensive-auction-in-pictures
The Scream sells for record price at auction
Level 3
Advanced
KEY
1Warmer
5 Comprehension check
Teacher’s note: Turn this into a competitive task by
getting the students to work in groups, setting a time
limit of five minutes and giving points for each
correct answer.
1. F – Someone paid $250 million for The Card
Players by Cezanne.
2. F – The buyer is anonymous.
3. F – The money from the sale of the painting will
pay for an art centre, a museum and a hotel.
4. F – Three other versions of the painting exist.
5. T
6. T
2 Find the information
1.
2.
3.
4.
Edvard Munch, Norwegian
The Scream
$119.9 million
at Sotheby’s auction house in New York
3 Words to describe people
a.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
bidder
auctioneer
villain
expressionist
patron
b.
1. the anonymous person who bought the painting
2. the person working for Sotheby’s, running the
auction and accepting the bids
3. the killer in the Scream slasher movies
4. Edvard Munch
5. Petter Olsen’s father – Petter Olsen is the
Norwegian businessman who sold the painting.
7Webquest
Teacher’s note: If you do not have internet access in
class then these tasks can be set as homework.
Different translations of the poem can be found on
several websites. For example:
http://www.all-art.org/modern_art_20cent/munch1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scream
Alternatively, you can use this translation:
I was walking along the road with two friends. The
sun set, and the sky turned blood red. I felt a touch
of melancholy, and stopped and leaned against the
railing, feeling extremely fatigued. Blood-red clouds
and tongues of fire were floating above the city and the
blue-black fjord. My friends kept on walking, but I stood
still, trembling with anxiety. I felt as if I were hearing the
immense, infinite cry of nature.
4 Informal words and expressions
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mere mortals
shelling out (for something)
slasher movies
shrink
a (hefty) price tag
a snip
to snag something
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1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.