Munch's The Scream to be Displayed at MoMA in New York

Great news for art fans in New York: The New York Times and other sources are reporting that Edvard Munch’s 1895 version of “The Scream,” which became the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction when it brought nearly $120 million at Sotheby’s in May, will go on view at the Museum of Modern Art for six months starting on October 24.

Munch made four versions of “The Scream” — an image that has become a universal symbol of angst and existential dread — from 1893 to 1910. Three are in Norwegian museums and have not traveled for years. This one, a pastel on board, is the only “Scream” still in private hands and the only one in the United States; it has never before been shown publicly in New York, officials at MoMA say.

The pastel will be on view at MoMA through April 29, hanging in the first gallery on the museum’s fifth floor, along with several prints that Munch made around the same time. And, understandably, security at the museum will be "extremely strict." (The paintings have been popular targets for thieves, most recently in 2004, when masked gunmen stole the 1910 version from the Munch Museum in Oslo. It was recovered two years later.)