What is the most expensive piece of art - ever?

[EricPhan]

Answer - this $104 million statue made in 1961. Sold on 2/3 to a mystery buyer. $104 million isn't that crazy now that trillions are the new billions.

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-bud...ell-at-auction

[GRG55]

Re: What is the most expensive piece of art - ever?

Answer - this $104 million statue made in 1961. Sold on 2/3 to a mystery buyer. $104 million isn't that crazy now that trillions are the new billions.

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-bud...ell-at-auction

One last blow-out hurrah for the FIRE economy v.2?

Or has the Frankenstein economy come back for another record-smashing box office sequel extended run?

[Chomsky]

Re: What is the most expensive piece of art - ever?

Answer - this $104 million statue made in 1961. Sold on 2/3 to a mystery buyer. $104 million isn't that crazy now that trillions are the new billions.

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-bud...ell-at-auction

That's actually not the most expensive artwork ever. It's the highest price ever paid at auction, though.

Gustav Klimt's portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer was purchased by Ronald Lauder for $135 million. I believe that is the most ever paid for a work of art:



http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/19/ar...gn/19klim.html

[touchring]

Re: What is the most expensive piece of art - ever?

Damn, i've not even heard of this sculptor. how about Michelangelo's sculpture, how much will that cost?

[jpatter666]

Re: What is the most expensive piece of art - ever?

Damn, i've not even heard of this sculptor. how about Michelangelo's sculpture, how much will that cost?

Off the charts. Of course it's not and likely never will be for sale, so you can only use estimates of what it might bring.

[Chomsky]

Re: What is the most expensive piece of art - ever?

Damn, i've not even heard of this sculptor. how about Michelangelo's sculpture, how much will that cost?

Giacometti is one of the 20th century's greatest sculptors, up there with Aristide Maillol, Constantin Brancusi, Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth, and David Smith.

Michelangelo's sculptures are literally priceless, as none of them will likely ever come on the market.

[lakedaemonian]

Re: What is the most expensive piece of art - ever?

"The Scream" by Munch sells for $119.9million...not a record but looks to have rounded out the top 5.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17926519

Norwegian expressionist Edvard Munch's The Scream has become the most expensive artwork sold at auction, after it fetched $119.9m (£74m).
The 1895 pastel was bought by an anonymous buyer at Sotheby's in New York. Bidding lasted 12 minutes.
The work is one of four in a series by the Norwegian expressionist artist and was the only one still owned privately.
Proceeds of the sale are to go towards founding a new museum, hotel and art centre in Norway.
Seven bidders were competing for the work, which had a starting price of $40m. The crowd broke into applause, following the sale on Wednesday.
The sale price includes the buyer's premium.
The previous record for an artwork sold at auction was for Picasso's Nude, Green Leaves, and Bust, which sold for $106.5m in 2010.
'Trembling with anxiety'The other three versions of The Scream are all owned by Norwegian museums, but Sotheby's say the version they sold is the most colourful.
Continue reading the main storyMost expensive art works

• The Card Players (pictured), by Paul Cezanne sold for $250m to Qatar
• No 5, 1948, by Jackson Pollock fetched $140m
• Willem de Kooning's Woman III went for $137.5m
• Gustav Klimt's Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I sold for $135m
• Edvard Munch's The Scream fetches $120m

It is also the only one to include a poem by Munch on the frame, which talks of the inspiration behind the series of works.
It reads: "I was walking along a path with two friends - the sun was setting - suddenly the sky turned blood red - I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence - there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city.
"My friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety - and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature."
The piece was sold by businessman Petter Olsen, whose father was friendly with the Norwegian artist.
Earlier this year, Olsen spoke of his decision to sell The Scream.
"I have lived with this work all my life, and its power and energy have only increased with time," he said.
"Now, however, I feel the moment has come to offer the rest of the world a chance to own and appreciate this remarkable work."
The Scream has become one of the famous works of art in popular culture.


Philip Hook from Sotheby's discusses Edvard Munch's masterpiece with the BBC's David Sillito

"Together with the Mona Lisa, it's the most famous and recognised image in art history," Michael Frahm, an art adviser with Frahm Ltd, told the Associated Press news agency.
He added that it has been "used by everyone from Warhol to Hollywood to cartoons to teacups and T-shirts".
Two of the other versions of The Scream were stolen, in 1994 and 2004 respectively. Both were later recovered.

[jiimbergin]

Re: What is the most expensive piece of art - ever?

I guess I am really dumb, but I can not figure out how something one of my 15 grandchildren could have drawn is worth that kind of money!

[flintlock]

Re: What is the most expensive piece of art - ever?

I guess I am really dumb, but I can not figure out how something one of my 15 grandchildren could have drawn is worth that kind of money!

Its funny you say that because my then 8 year old daughter once drew a very close likeness to the Scream as well as Starry Night by Van Gough. I was slightly shocked at how good it was. Then I realized they had been studying art that day in class.

It is interesting to consider how if you take almost anything, show it to a lot of people, and then tell them this is the only one and you can't have it, how much people will pay. Art is not really valued on its intrinsic beauty alone but rather its unavailability to others.

[FRED]

Re: What is the most expensive piece of art - ever?

Its funny you say that because my then 8 year old daughter once drew a very close likeness to the Scream as well as Starry Night by Van Gough. I was slightly shocked at how good it was. Then I realized they had been studying art that day in class.

It is interesting to consider how if you take almost anything, show it to a lot of people, and then tell them this is the only one and you can't have it, how much people will pay. Art is not really valued on its intrinsic beauty alone but rather its unavailability to others.

A Pablo Picasso story from the Village Voice:


Some guy told Picasso he’d pay him to draw a picture on a napkin. Picasso whipped out a pen and banged out a sketch, handed it to the guy, and said, “One million dollars, please.”


“A million dollars?” the guy exclaimed. “That only took you thirty seconds!”


“Yes,” said Picasso. “But it took me fifty years to learn how to draw that in thirty seconds."

[Milton Kuo]

Re: What is the most expensive piece of art - ever?

A Pablo Picasso story from the Village Voice:


Some guy told Picasso he’d pay him to draw a picture on a napkin. Picasso whipped out a pen and banged out a sketch, handed it to the guy, and said, “One million dollars, please.”


“A million dollars?” the guy exclaimed. “That only took you thirty seconds!”


“Yes,” said Picasso. “But it took me fifty years to learn how to draw that in thirty seconds."

And then you have sad instances like van Gogh, who only managed to sell one painting during his lifetime.

[ER59]

Re: What is the most expensive piece of art - ever?

And then you have sad instances like van Gogh, who only managed to sell one painting during his lifetime.

From what I have read, Picasso was a very good businessman and new how to make a buck

[photoncounter]

Re: What is the most expensive piece of art - ever?

A Pablo Picasso story from the Village Voice:


Some guy told Picasso he’d pay him to draw a picture on a napkin. Picasso whipped out a pen and banged out a sketch, handed it to the guy, and said, “One million dollars, please.”


“A million dollars?” the guy exclaimed. “That only took you thirty seconds!”


“Yes,” said Picasso. “But it took me fifty years to learn how to draw that in thirty seconds."

I share similar thoughts as flintlock. I can understand if the picture that Picasso drew on the napkin could not be replicated by others, which means he could do something that no one else could. I find a lot of these work of 'art' that sell for unreasonable amounts of money to be worthless. I think it is the name. Once an artist stamps his name to fame (which could be through pure luck, specially in this field, since I think it's about how your art is perceived by important people), he/she gets the license to sell a lot of silly work for a lot of money. I can guarantee that there is a lot of work of art out there that is much better than those signed by big-shot artists that people are not willing to pay a penny for. It's all in the name and mind.

[dcarrigg]

Re: What is the most expensive piece of art - ever?

I share similar thoughts as flintlock. I can understand if the picture that Picasso drew on the napkin could not be replicated by others, which means he could do something that no one else could. I find a lot of these work of 'art' that sell for unreasonable amounts of money to be worthless. I think it is the name. Once an artist stamps his name to fame (which could be through pure luck, specially in this field, since I think it's about how your art is perceived by important people), he/she gets the license to sell a lot of silly work for a lot of money. I can guarantee that there is a lot of work of art out there that is much better than those signed by big-shot artists that people are not willing to pay a penny for. It's all in the name and mind.

If you're ever in the mind to read a good book on being an artist, selling art, and why not to go to art school (as well as how art integrates with society, economics and politics), I'd recommend Dave Hickey's Air Guitar.

[Starving Steve]

Re: What is the most expensive piece of art - ever?

I guess I am really dumb, but I can not figure out how something one of my 15 grandchildren could have drawn is worth that kind of money!

The rich have entirely too much money............ LEAN FORWARD.