The only privately owned version of Edvard Munch’s The Scream − one of the most recognisable paintings in history — set a world record when it sold for €91.2 million at Sotheby’s in New York.

Heated competition between seven bidders took the price to the highest for a work of art at a public auction in just 12 minutes, sparking applause.

“It’s a world record,” announced auctioneer Tobias Meyer after bringing down the hammer.

The previous record was held by Picasso’s Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust, which sold in 2010 for €80.9 million.

The Scream is one of four versions of a work whose nightmarish central figure and lurid, swirling colours symbolised the existential angst and despair of the modern age.

It was sold by Norwegian Petter Olsen, whose father was a friend and supporter of the artist.

He plans to establish a new museum in Norway.

After Hitler rose to power, artist Munch was among painters whose work was declared degenerate by the Nazi regime.

His paintings were stripped from the collections of the federal and state galleries across Germany.

But Mr Olsen’s father rescued 74 of them, including this version of The Scream, saving them from probable destruction.

He hid them in a neighbour’s hay barn until Norway’s liberation in 1945.

On two occasions, other versions of the painting have been stolen from museums, although both were recovered.

Copies have adorned everything from student dorms to tea mugs and the work has the rare quality of being known to art experts and the general public alike.

Reflecting the excitement, Sotheby’s spokesman Darrell Rocha said there had been an electric atmosphere during the sale of a painting that had been estimated to fetch at least €60.8 million.

“A group of seven bidders jumped into the competition early, but it was a prolonged battle between two highly determined phone bidders that carried the final selling price to its historic level,” he added.

The version of The Scream sold was painted in 1895 and is the only one not held by Norwegian museums.

It also features a poem inscribed by Munch in which he explains his inspiration for the work, which depicts “the great scream in nature”.

Mr Olsen said: “The scream shows for me the horrifying moment when man realises his impact on nature and the irreversible changes that he has initiated, making the planet increasingly inhabitable”.