In March this year, a Pablo Picasso piece was sold for $155 million. It may seem like an astronomical sum, but $155 million is merely the monetary value of the painting. Art has far greater intangible value to its owners, and when compared to the satisfaction of owning an original masterpiece, the cost is merely an afterthought.
When it comes to art appreciation, there are those who admire good work and then there are art collectors. To a collector, a carefully curated collection is more than an assortment of paintings; it represents their passion, it is their source of pride and also doubles up as a lucrative investment. Some collections have been sold at sky-high prices, because when it comes to art, the whole is often greater than the sum of the parts.
“Collecting 101” is AVID’s salute to spirit of collecting art. With the event occurring tomorrow, today would be a good time to look at some of the most valuable pieces of art to have ever gone under the hammer.
$154 million: Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I
Gustav Klimt painted this striking portrait of Adele under commission for Ferdinand Bloch-Bauer. Adele also became the only model Klimt would paint twice, when he completed a second work titled Adele Bloch-Bauer II. The painting is currently on display at the Neue Galerie in New York City.
$155 million: Le Rêve
Painted in 1932, Le Rêve (The Dream) was a 50 year old Picasso’s tribute to his much younger mistress. The painting is laced with erotic subtext, with the artist weaving in a phallic symbol into the portrait. This work is the one that made headlines for its stupefying price tag this March.
$157.9 million: Woman III
Expressionist artist Willem de Kooning painted this piece as part of a series of abstract images with women as the theme. The work was purchased by Steven A. Cohen, the same private collector who purchased Le Rêve.
$160.8 million: No. 5
Jackson Pollock, pioneer of “action painting” and master of the drip technique, created this work in 1948. With a price tag of $160.8 million, the painting is easily one of the most valuable works by Pollock, but still falls far short of the next entry on this list.
$267 million: The Card Players
By far the most expensive painting ever sold, The Card Players by French artist Paul Cézanne has been described as “a human still life”. The models for the painting were farmhands on Cézanne’s family estate. The painting, which was sold at its sky-high price to the royal family of Qatar, is part of a five part series.
Share our passion for Art and join us at “Collecting 101”, a talk in collaboration with representatives from Christie’s!
sources: http://visual.ly/top-10-most-expensive-paintings-ever-sold
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_most_expensive_paintings
Representational Image courtesy :www.arts.nsw.gov.au
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