New York (CNN) – A pastel version of “The Scream” by Edvard Munch fetched nearly $120 million from an anonymous buyer Wednesday at Sotheby’s in New York, setting a new world record for a work of art sold at auction.

Experts had expected the masterpiece to break new ground at the famed New York auction house; its presale estimate of at least $80 million was the highest ever listed at Sotheby’s.

It sold for $119,922,500, which includes the premium paid to Sotheby’s.

Previously, the most expensive artwork ever sold there was Pablo Picasso’s painting “Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust,” which brought in $106.5 million two years ago. The previous record for a Munch work of art was just over $38 million.

Read the entire CNN article here.

Beth Howard stumbled onto the Iowa farmhouse depicted in Grant Wood’s 1930 painting ‘American Gothic’ on a road trip after her husband died three years ago. It’s now her home and a place of peace — despite the gawkers who flock to it.

ELDON, Iowa — Beth Howard sits at her kitchen table on a Sunday morning and pulls back the curtain to peer at a group of rosy-cheeked youths taking pictures on her front lawn. They pair off to stand side by side in the pose familiar to millions — the dour farmer with a pitchfork, the unsmiling woman beside him in front of the white house.

No one notices the woman in flannel pajamas sitting inside.

“People seldom know that people live here, much less that there’s someone watching them from the other side of the curtain,” says Howard, who rents the house made famous in Grant Wood’s painting “American Gothic.”

Read the entire LA Times article here.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• “Draw Something,” a hit mobile game, lets players take turns drawing, guessing objects
• It’s been the No. 1 free app on the iPad, iPhone and has attracted 35 million users
• Player on the game’s appeal: “It’s not a competition, it’s about collaboration”

Playing the game is simple once you scan your social-network contacts for someone to play with. The app gives you three choices of things to draw; you pick a word and then draw it with your finger on the touchscreen, using the basic colors provided in the app. Your friend hopefully deciphers your picture and guesses it correctly, then draws a picture for you in return.

The back and forth continues in an addictive cycle. There’s no winner; instead, players work together to build streaks of correctly guessed drawings.

Dan Porter, former CEO of OMGPop turned a vice president of Zynga, said they were inspired to create something that was close to a party game — targeted at everyone and not too competitive.

“We wanted to be that game that was on the phone of the people who had no other games on their phone,” Porter said. “We thought it would do well. But we were shocked that it did this well.”

The point system complements the easygoing nature of the game. Players have the ability to pick from a list of three words, which range in difficulty. Harder words are worth more virtual coins, which can be cashed in for features or hints within the game.

What’s interesting is how these points work. The person drawing gets coins if the other player guesses it correctly. The person guessing is given the same number of coins for guessing it.

Read the entire CNN story here.

Download it from iTunes here.

I don’t know how many wonders of the world there are by now, but it is possible that the Google Art Project will someday join the list.

The greatly expanded second iteration of this online compilation of self-selected art museums and artworks was unveiled last week. It makes available images of more than 32,000 works in 31 mediums and materials, from the collections of 151 museums and arts organizations worldwide, forming a broad, deep river of shared information, something like a lavishly illustrated art book fused with high-end open storage.

Read the entire New York Times article here.