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Back in 2012, a version of Edvard Munch's The Scream (1893) sold at auction at Sotheby's for what was then a record price of $119.9 million. In the three years since, that benchmark has be surpassed a couple times, most recently by a Modigliani nude just this past Monday. That piece fetched a whopping $170 million dollar courtesy of Liu Yiqian, said to be one of China's the most free-spending and ostentatious billionaires. That's it baby, when you got it flaunt it! But a bigger deal seems to have been made of the Munch when it sold, probably because it's far more iconic—a symbol, if you will, of modern angst, of which there's still plenty to go round. After all, Macaulay Culkin adopted the pose from the painting in Home Alone, and there's even an emoji based on the image. It's no wonder, then, that when MoMA put The Scream on view not long after its sale, crowds flocked to see it.
But perhaps you were among the sorry lot who missed out. Bummer, right? Well, good news! Next year The Scream will be returning to New York, starting Feb 18 at the Neue Galerie New York. The occasion is the exhibition "Munch and Expression," which will examine the Norwegian painter's influence on a generation of younger artists in Germany and Austria who developed the Expressionist style. Munch's masterpiece will occupy the center ring, and is likely to upstage other works by Max Beckmann and Egon Schiele, who's no slouch himself when it comes to stealing the spotlight. So put your best face on, and head over when the show opens, and this time make sure you go. You'll have until June 13 until The Scream returns home, all alone, to the private collector who owns it.