The Obscenity of the Art World

Just in time for the reawakening of the #Occupy movement, tonight Sotheby’s will be auctioning off  Norwegian modernist Edvard Munch’s forth iteration of his iconic Scream.

Just in time for the reawakening of the #Occupy movement, tonight Sotheby’s will be auctioning off  Norwegian modernist Edvard Munch’s forth iteration of his iconic Scream. The sale is expected to top $200 million and could be the highest price paid for a work of art in history. This image, created in pastel in 1895, is currently owned by a Norwegian businessman and will pass into the hands of another private owner. Even museums do not have the money to purchase works at this price.

Sotheby’s could take home $10 to $20 million in commission alone from just this one sale. Meanwhile Sotheby’s is in a worker’s lockout for refusing to pay their art handlers a living wage or benefits. This is the obscenity of the 1%. Senior critic of New York Magazine, Jerry Saltz explains: