The Price is Right: Assignment 11

Assignment 11

Thomas Tiernan

Price is Right

            The business of auctioning off very rare artworks to the incredibly wealthy is a booming business. If I were an expert on art, I would love to get into this business. Recently, Francis Bacon’s “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” was sold for $142.4 million to Acguavella Galleries in Manhattan. The painting was created late in Bacon’s career (1969) and it depicts Freud sitting in three different poses. Christie’s originally estimated the work to $85 million, which was low considering it was sold for $86 million in 2008.  The same day, Jeff Koons, a conceptual contemporary artist, sold his orange balloon dog sculpture for $58.4 million making him the highest-grossing living artist. The sculpture stands 12 feet high and is crafted out of stainless steel in order to resemble the shine from a balloon. The sculpture displays Koon’s desire to re-create the experience of a child’s joy. 

           In 2012, “The Scream” by Edvard Munch’s was sold for $120 million making it the record highest sale. Many people did not believe the 1969 triptych would surpass the $120 million, but they were all in for a surprise. “The Scream” was sold to a mystery winner who apparently won over the phone. The painting was one of four, and the only one that was privately owned. The owner was Petter Olsen, a Norwegian businessman whose father was a direct friend and neighbor of the artist. 

        Another famous painting that was sold recently was Andy Warhol’s “Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster)”. It sold for $105 million even though it was expected to sell for $60-80 million. The 1963 painting captures the aftermath of a car accident and has only been seen once in public in the past 26 years.  

         In 2006, famous casino owner Steve Wynn agreed to sell his Picasso painting, “Le Reve” for $155 million. This was a private sale, not done through auctions, and apparently Steven Wynn accidentally ripped the painting by pushing his elbow through the painting. The painting was of Picasso’s mistress, Marie Therese Walter, and it reminds me of the classic Picasso we all think about.

Another Picasso painting, which was sold for exuberant amounts of money, was, “Nude, Green Leaves and Bust” which sold for $106.5 million in 2010. This painting had a lot of history because it was included in the great Zervos catalogue of Picasso’s work and even went underground during World War II, but was then bought in 1951 by and American couple.

In conclusion, the more well known the artist; the larger the price tag. Art can be worth more than thousands of diamonds but only when drawn by the remembered. The business of selling art can be extremely profitable, but the barriers to enter this market are too high.