Thursday, May 06, 2004

Picasso Oil Fetches Auction Record of $104 Million

Pablo Picasso's "Boy with the Pipe" became the most expensive painting ever sold at auction on Wednesday when it fetched $104,168,000 at Sotheby's in New York.
The previous auction record was held by van Gogh's "Portrait of Dr. Gachet" which sold for $82.5 million in 1990.

I'm surprised a Picasso (especially an early one) would sell for so much. Whereas Van Gogh painted for just a few years and had few pieces, Picasso was so prolific that they can create entire shows around his World War II output alone. Supply and Demand would suggest that a single Van Gogh piece is worth more than a single Picasso piece. What would Picasso's "The Old Guitarist" fetch on the open market? It's more famous and a part of the storied blue period.

Or what would "Guernica" bring?

One of the advantages of selling a masterpiece is that most masterpieces aren't for sale. If all of Picasso's work went up for sale at once, we'd probably get a better idea of what the pieces are really worth.

I read once tht Billy Wilder collected art in the 50s and 60s and made several million dollars when he sold the works in the 1990s. In fact, he made more from the sale of his art collection than all of his movies combined.

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