Sotheby's will offer the only privately¹ owned version of Edvard Munch²'s haunting work "The Scream" at an auction³ 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.

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。

Edvard Munch's "The Scream"
The 1895 work is owned by Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen, whose father Thomas was a friend, neighbor and patron（赞助人） of Munch, the auctioneer said on Tuesday.

There are four versions of the famous depiction⁴ of a figure facing out with its hands to its ears apparently⁵ screaming. The three others belong to Norwegian museum collections.

Simon Shaw, senior vice⁶ 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 icons⁷ 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（体现，化身） of modern-day anxiety and existential（存在主义的） angst.