While there is no discussing taste, this is demonstrably one of the most widely recognized paintings in the world. Many people recognize the motif without connecting it to the name Munch (his name is pronounced approx. "moonk" by the way, so there goes the rhyme in much of the above...). And of course, whoever bought the thing didn't pay 119.9M for Munch's crayon strokes on cardboard, they paid for the privilege of owning the ONLY privately owned copy of one of the most famous paintings in the world. For some people with more money than they know what to do with, I guess it's worth it.

To inject a musical vein into this thread, take a look at Munch's murals from the old University auditorium in Oslo aulaen . If you put say "mingus oslo 1964" into the search field on YouTube you get this   See the mural in the background? That's Munch too, an optimistic sunrise, accompanied by Mingus and Dolphy!