NEW YORK CITY — On November 14 in a packed salesroom at Sotheby’s, Edvard Munch’s seminal “Pikene på broen (Girls on the Bridge)” from 1902 – one of the most powerful paintings of the artist’s career – sold for $54.5 million. The result marks the second-highest auction price for any work by the artist. This lyrical masterpiece led the firm’s evening sale of Impressionist and Modern art, which totaled $157.7 million and achieved top prices for painting and sculpture by Picasso and a new auction record for László Moholy-Nagy.

“Girls on the Bridge” has made a record price for the artist at auction each time it has been offered at Sotheby’s in New York: in 1996 when the painting sold for $7.7 million, and in 2008, when it reached $30.8 million. Over the last 20 years, Sotheby’s has presented some of Munch’s most exceptional works at auction, most notably the 2012 sale of one of four versions of his iconic “The Scream,” which brought a then-world auction record price for any work of art when it fetched $119.9 million.

Watch for a full report on this sale in an upcoming issue.