蒙克名作《吶喊》天價成交 創拍賣紀錄

Let the art market roar. Norwegian painter Edvard Munch became the most expensive artist at auction Wednesday when his 1895 pastel of a terrified man clutching his cheeks along an Oslo fjord, 'The Scream,' sold for $119.9 million at Sotheby's--the most ever paid for a work of art at auction.

藝術品市場也瘋狂了一次。週三，挪威畫家蒙克(Edvard Munch)成了拍賣會上身價最高的藝術家：他在1895年創作的一個版本的《吶喊》(The Scream)在蘇富比(Sotheby's)拍出了1.199億美元的高價，這是迄今爲止單件藝術作品在拍賣會上拍出的最高價格。蒙克的《吶喊》描繪了一個受到驚嚇的男子在奧斯陸峽灣旁雙手托住臉頰的畫面。

The purchase surpasses the $106.5 million spent two years ago for Pablo Picasso's 1932 portrait of his mistress, 'Nude, Green Leaves and Bust,' as well as Alberto Giacometti's earlier record of $104.3 million for his 1960 spindly bronze sculpture, 'Walking Man I.'

Everett Collection圖片：蒙克名作《吶喊》的別樣化身這一價格超過了畢加索(Pablo Picasso)1932年爲他的情婦創作的肖像《裸體、綠葉和半身像》(Nude, Green Leaves and Bust)在兩年前拍出的1.065億美元的高價，也打破了賈科梅蒂(Alberto Giacometti)1960年創作的青銅雕塑《行走的人》(Walking Man I)拍出的1.043億美元的紀錄。

In a dogged contest at the auction house's New York saleroom, the bidding for Munch's 'Scream' began at $40 million and shot up quickly, with five bidders from America and China competing for the sunset-colored portrait. Charlie Moffett, a Sotheby's specialist who represents American buyers, fielded the anonymous winning bid from a telephone.

在紐約蘇富比的拍賣大廳裏，圍繞《吶喊》的一場緊張的爭奪戰由此開始：此畫從4,000萬美元起拍，此後價格迅速躥升，五位來自美國和中國的競拍者相互競爭這幅日落顏色的畫作，代表美國買家的蘇富比專家莫菲特(Charlie Moffett)替一位以匿名方式電話競拍的買家成功拍得這一畫作。

The work had been priced to sell for around $80 million. Sale prices, unlike estimates, include the auction house's commission, which is 25% on the first $50,000, 20% up to $1 million and 12% above $1 million.

此前這幅作品定下的銷售價約爲8,000萬美元。和估價不同，銷售價還包括拍賣行收取的佣金。蘇富比按如下比率收取佣金：如果落槌價在5萬美元及以下，佣金爲落槌價的25%；如果落槌價在50,001美元至100萬美元之間，佣金爲落槌價的20%；如果落槌價高於100萬美元，佣金爲落槌價的12%。

The sale reflects the trophy-hunting atmosphere currently buoying the global art market, as billionaires around the world vie for the few masterpieces that come up for sale in any given season. Their collective bidding has also helped recalibrate price levels for dozens of top artists.

《吶喊》拍出創紀錄高價反映了目前提振全球藝術品市場的一股追逐珍品的氛圍。在任何一個拍賣季都可以看到全球億萬富豪在爭奪待售的寥寥幾件傑作。這些富豪集體競拍的行爲有助於擡高數十位頂尖藝術家的身價。

Outside the auction houses, artworks have already traded for even more: Five years ago Chicago collector Stefan Edlis sold his Andy Warhol 'Turquoise Marilyn' to hedge-fund billionaire Steven Cohen for at least $80 million.

在拍賣行外，藝術品的交易價格往往更高。五年前，芝加哥收藏家艾德里斯(Stefan Edlis)將其收藏的沃霍爾(Andy Warhol)的畫作《瑪麗蓮•夢露》(Turquoise Marilyn)以至少8,000萬美元的價格賣給對衝基金業的億萬富豪科恩(Steven Cohen)。

Dealers say Greek shipping magnate George Embiricos sold his Paul Cezanne painting, 'Card players,' to an anonymous buyer last year for at least $250 million. Details of that $250 million sale remain cloudy in part because Embiricos died last fall, and no buyer for his record-setting painting has since stepped forward. Dealers say the likely buyers include Qatar's royal family, which declined to comment, and billionaires from Greece and Russia.

藝術品經銷商說，希臘船王安布里柯斯(George Embiricos)去年將其收藏的塞尚(Paul Cezanne)名作《玩紙牌的人》(Card Players)以至少2.5億美元的價格出售給一位匿名買家。有關這宗2.5億美元交易的細節仍然不爲人所知，部分原因是安布里柯斯已於去年秋天去世。自那以後，以創紀錄高價購得這幅名作的買家一直沒有現身。藝術品經銷商說，可能的買家包括卡塔爾王室以及希臘和俄羅斯的億萬富豪。卡塔爾王室對此不予置評。

'There's a lot of money out there now, and it doesn't take many billionaires to push up a price,' said Edlis, the Chicago collector, before the sale. 'You can only buy so many yachts, and a painting is so much better to look at than a bankbook.' Edlis said he didn't plan to enter the fray on the Munch.

芝加哥收藏家艾德里斯在賣畫之前曾說，市場上的資金非常充裕，並不需要多位億萬富豪爭相出價才能推高價格；你總不會買下太多艘遊艇，而且跟存摺比起來，名畫看上去要漂亮多了。艾德里斯曾說他不打算參與《吶喊》的競拍。

Elsewhere in Sotheby's sale, collectors also chased after a group of works coming from the estate of financier Theodore Forstmann, a pioneer in the leveraged-buyout business. Forstmann was the senior founding partner of the investment firm Forstmann Little & Co., and chairman and CEO of IMG Worldwide Holdings Inc.

在蘇富比2號晚上的拍賣中，藏家也在追逐已故金融家福斯特曼(Theodore Forstmann)收藏的藝術品。福斯特曼是槓桿收購業務的先驅，也是投資公司Forstmann Little & Co.的高級創始合夥人，還是IMG Worldwide Holdings Inc.的董事長兼首席執行長(CEO)。

Leading this group of colorful, modern paintings and bronze sculptures was Picasso's $29.2 million 'Woman Sitting in a Chair' from 1941, and Chaim Soutine's $9.3 million 'The Hunter of Maxim's' from 1925.

在這組琳琅滿目的現代繪畫和銅雕當中，售價最高的是畢加索作於1941年的《坐在扶手椅的婦女》(Woman Sitting in a Chair)，成交價2,920萬美元，以及蘇蒂納(Chaim Soutine)作於1925年的《獵人》(The Hunter of Maxim's)，成交價930萬美元。

The record-setting Munch was considered a plum as much for its rarity as for its pop-culture ubiquity. One of four versions of 'The Scream' that Munch created, this version was the only one not in an Oslo museum and the first to ever come up at auction. The image has also been reproduced on everything from ice-cream containers to the villain's mask in Wes Craven's 'Scream' horror films.

賣出天價的蒙克作品之所以受到追捧，除了非常稀有以外，也由於它在流行文化中無處不在。蒙克一共創作了四個版本的《吶喊》，週三拍賣的是唯一一個沒有被某家奧斯陸博物館收藏的版本，也是有史以來第一個被拍賣的版本。畫中的影像還被複制在各種東西上面，如裝冰激凌的盒子，又比如克雷文(Wes Craven)《驚聲尖叫》(Scream)系列恐怖片中那位反面角色所戴的面具。

'The Scream' carries its own mystique, having come from the collection of Petter Olsen, a Norwegian real-estate developer and shipping heir who grew up with the work in the living room of his childhood home. His father, Thomas Olsen, a neighbor of Munch's in the small Norwegian town of Hvitsten, bought the work from the German coffee magnate who likely commissioned it. During World War II, Olsen said his family hid the work along with dozens of other Munch artworks in a hay barn to protect them from the Nazis, who were destroying artworks they deemed degenerate. Olsen has said he offered up 'The Scream' now in order to fund a museum of Munch's work in Hvitsten to open next year.

《吶喊》本身也有其神祕色彩。它是挪威房地產開發商、船業繼承人奧爾森(Petter Olsen)的藏品之一。在他成長期間，這幅畫一直掛在童年時期居所的起居室內。他的父親托馬斯•奧爾森(Thomas Olsen)是蒙克在挪威小鎮維斯滕(Hvitsten)的鄰居，他從一位德國咖啡大鱷手中買下了這幅作品，很可能是這位咖啡大鱷委託他畫的這幅畫。奧爾森說，二戰期間，他們家把《吶喊》和蒙克其他數十年作品藏在裝乾草的倉房內，以防納粹破壞──當時納粹正在大肆毀壞他們認爲低俗的作品。奧爾森曾表示，現在把《吶喊》拿出來拍賣是爲了給維斯滕小鎮的一座蒙克作品展館籌資，這座展館將於明年開放。

The work itself depicts a bald, skeletal figure in a blue shirt standing at a popular suicide spot on Oslo's horseshoe-shaped bay where people could often heard screams from a nearby insane asylum, according to art historians. Munch's sister, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, was housed in that asylum. (There's still debate over whether Munch's character is actually screaming or using his hands to muffle the sound of surrounding screams.)

據藝術史學家說，作品本身描繪的是一個身穿藍色襯衫、骨瘦如柴的禿頂的人站在奧斯陸馬蹄型海灣上一個常常有人自殺的地方。在那裏，人們常常會聽到附近一家精神病院裏傳出的尖叫聲。蒙克被診斷爲精神分裂的妹妹就被關在那家精神病院裏。（至於畫中人物究竟是在尖叫，還是用手捂住耳朵阻擋周圍的尖叫聲，仍然存在爭論。）

The third in a series created between 1893 and 1910, Sotheby's version was created with pastel on rough board and offered in its original frame, which is inscribed with an 1892 poem Munch wrote, which inspired the work. In the poem, he says he was walking beside that fjord when he sensed 'an infinite scream passing through nature.'

蘇富比拍賣的作品是蒙克在1893年到1910年之間創作的系列作品中的第三幅，用粉蠟筆在粗木板上繪成，和原配的畫框一起出售。畫框上題寫了蒙克作於1892年的一首詩，正是這首詩激發了這幅作品的創作靈感。蒙克在詩中說，他正在海灣旁邊行走，突然感覺從大自然中傳來連綿不絕的尖叫聲。

Historians hail Munch for breaking away from the Impressionists who still held sway over the art world in the late 19th century. Instead of playing with light and shadow to capture the world around him, Munch experimented with ways to visualize his own tormented emotions--a shift that helped pave the way for the Expressionists like Egon Schiele along with later Abstract Expressionists like Mark Rothko.

19世紀末的藝術界由印象派主宰，而對於蒙克同印象派決裂的做法藝術史學家歷來稱讚不已。蒙克沒有運用光影來描繪他周圍的世界，而是通過各種實驗將自己痛苦的情緒呈現爲視覺。這種轉變在某種程度上爲席勒(Egon Schiele)等表現主義派以及後來的羅斯科(Mark Rothko)等抽象表現主義派奠定了基礎。