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 expects to fetch over $80 million, the highest pre-sale value the auctioneer has ever put on a work of art.

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

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.

Simon Shaw, senior vice president and head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art department in New York, called the pastel-on-board creation "one of the most important works of art in private hands".

"Given how rarely true icons come to the market it is difficult to predict The Scream’s value," he added in a statement. "The recent success of masterpieces at Sotheby’s suggests that the price could exceed $80 million."

The auctioneer called The Scream one of the most instantly recognizable images in art and popular culture, second only perhaps to Leonardo Da Vinci’s "Mona Lisa".

The painting seeks to communicate Munch’s anxiety in the hills above Oslo and has been interpreted by many as the embodiment of modern-day anxiety and existential angst.

Vocabulary:

haunting: 萦绕于心头的，不易忘怀的；给人以强烈感受的

pastel: 彩色粉笔，蜡笔

embodiment: 具体化；体现

existential: 有关存在的

angst: 不安，忧虑

苏富比拍卖行将于5月2日纽约拍卖会上出售爱德华•蒙克的震撼作品《呐喊》，预计拍得价格超过8000万美元，是有史以来拍卖商给艺术品定出的最高预售价。这幅画是《呐喊》系列中唯一一幅私人珍藏品。

据拍卖商周二称，这幅1895年创作的名画为挪威商人皮特•奥尔森所有，他的父亲托马斯是蒙克的朋友、邻居和资助人。

《呐喊》系列总共有四个版本，描绘的都是我们所熟知的那个场景：一个人用手捂着耳朵看着画外在尖叫。其他三个版本是挪威博物馆的收藏品。

西蒙•肖恩是苏富比拍卖行位于纽约的印象派及现代艺术部的高级副总裁和主管。他将这幅粉彩木版画称为“私人珍藏的最重要的艺术品之一”。

他在一份声明中还说：“考虑到真正的经典巨作极少在市场上露面，我们很难预估《呐喊》的价格。苏富比近几次成功拍卖名作的经验表明，该画的成交价将超过8000万美元。”

拍卖商将《呐喊》称作艺术和流行文化中识别度最高的画作之一，大概仅次于列奥纳多•达•芬奇的《蒙娜丽莎》。

这幅画力图传达蒙克在奥斯陆山中时的焦虑之情，许多人将其解读为表现了现代人普遍存在的焦虑和对自身存在的不安。