Edvard Munch's The Scream beat the $106.4m art auction world record set by Picasso's Picasso's Nude Green Leaves, and Bust, when it auctioned for $119.9m in New York last night.

One of four versions of the work, it is the second of two pastel versions, and was completed in 1895.

The only one of the four remaining in private hands, the auction may have represented the last chance for collectors to own the work. It sold to an anonymous telephone bidder.

Two of the other versions have previously been stolen from galleries in Norway - both were subsequently recovered.