Edvard Munch's iconic "The Scream" went for $120 million at Sotheby's Impressionist and Modern Art Evening sale on Wednesday to become the most expensive artwork ever sold at auction.

The auction tallied $330.6 million, the biggest total ever for a Sotheby's Impressionist and modern art auction, even with 15 of 76 lots failing to sell.

Estimated to fetch about $80 million, Munch's widely-recognized masterpiece, painted in 1895, is the last version to be privately held. It had been in the possession of Norwegian businessman Petter Olsen who inherited the work from his father who was a patron, friend and neighbor of Munch’s when both were living in Hvitsten, Norway.

Olsen plans to have the sale proceeds go toward the funding of a new art center in Norway and will restore Munch's studio and house, allowing guests to stay in the latter.

"The Scream" is considered to be the defining image of modern life.

The previous highest price for art sold at auction was held by Pablo Picasso’s “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” which garnered $106.5 million at Christie's in 2010.

Christie's sale on May 1 reached a total of $117 million for 31 works offered.

Two notable lots drove the sale. A vivid Fauve still life by Henri Matisse (1869-1954) and a rediscovered study for a modern masterpiece by Paul Cezanne (1839-1906) both brought just over $19 million.