Art auctions continue to break records, yesterday a picasso sold for $179 million breaking records never seen before, it has appreciated nearly $150,000,000 in less than 20 years when it was last sold for $31.9 million..... another rumor is going around that a piece Gauguin’s “When Will You Marry” sold for $300 million in February without an auction.......just 2 years ago a record $142 million was spent on “Three Studies of Lucian Freud,” and the previous record prior to that was $120 million for "scream"....again all these records are happening because of the trillions that BUBBLE bernanke and friends pumped into the market, there are so many trillions that it has to go somewhere....after doing a little research in 2009 art sales reached $6.3 Billion, last year prices for art have surged with last year totaling $16.3 BILLION!!!! The Trend of rising prices in luxury art is succinctly described by the Washington Post: “The steady inflation of the art market can be summed up with a quick glance at the list of most expensive auctioned works. At number five is a Picasso sold for $106.5 million in 2010. Number four is Edvard Munch’s iconic “The Scream” sold for $120 million in 2012. A year later, Francis Bacon’s “Three Studies of Lucian Freud” reached $142.4 million. And then there were the two heavy hitters from Monday’s auction: Picasso’s “Women of Algiers (Version O)” for $179.4 million and Alberto Giacometti’s “Man Pointing” for $141.3 million, which is the most expensive sculpture ever sold at auction.” William Banzai “Women of Cashiers” (http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1431434186.php) Picasso painting fetches record $179 million in auction Published: May 12, 2015 9:28 a.m. ET Reuters A man examines Pablo Picasso's "Les femmes d'Alger (Version 'O')" (Women of Algiers), which sold for a record $179.4 million Monday. By KELLYCROW Never underestimate the power of pretty women. Pablo Picasso set a record Monday when his 1955 painting of a harem of colorfully dressed women, “Women of Algiers (Version O),” sold for $179.4 million — the most ever paid for an work of art at auction. The price surpasses the $142.4 million paid two years ago for Francis Bacon’s triptych, “Three Studies of Lucian Freud,” as well as earlier record of $120 million for Edvard Munch’s tortured “Scream.” In a dogged contest at the auction house’s New York saleroom, the bidding for the Picasso began at $100 million and shot up quickly, with four telephone bidders competing for the jewel-tone scene of Cubist-style women lounging at odd angles in a room festooned with lush, striped décor. But as the price topped $145 million, the bidding war winnowed to a pair of telephone bidders and the room watched, hushed, a few pulling out their cellphones to capture the moment. After 11 minutes, the gavel fell and Brett Gorvy, global head of post-war art, fielded the anonymous winning bid. Picasso Painting Auctioned for Record $179 Million (1:09) Pablo Picasso's “Women of Algiers (Version O)” set an auction record Monday, selling in New York for a final price of $179.4 million after commission. The Picasso was considered a trophy as much for its ownership pedigree as its artistic merits. The work last changed hands 18 years ago when the estate of U.S. collectors Victor and Sally Ganz sold it through the auction house to a London dealer for $31.9 million. Its seller on Monday remains anonymous.
This isn't a bubble in the slightest. If you calculate the compound growth rate over the last 20 years on this painting, it works out to be a 9% per year increase. Sounds like a steadily appreciating asset to me.
I've never had a billion dollars, but I have seen a Picasso in a museum in California. Given the choice I would rather have the Picasso. A billion dollars is just money. A Picasso is a work of art, which can enrich your life everyday you even dare to look at it. Check out some of his drawings he did when he was just a teenager. The man was a born genius, like Mozart. No one knows where these people come from. Apparently, they are just born that way. A billion dollars? Shit, even Bill Gates and Warren has that. Do you know of any living artist like Picasso? There are probably some out there, but we are too stupid and shallow to recognize them while they are still alive. They were wayyyyy wayyyyy ahead of their time. And even today we are just starting to appreciate their genious, hence the high price tag for their art.
I know all about steadily appreciating assets, however when you have record after record after record art sales, the only reason for these records is because of QE, Strip out QE and these records wouldn't exist, there are trillions and trillions and trillions worth of dollars floating around because of the central banks, they are the reasons why we have picassos selling at $179 million, you can see the steady rise of art sales to how stock markets have performed the last 6 years...if this was a world wide bear market the last 3-4 years that painting would have never even made it to auction, all the art records have been within the last 5 years....
I'd take the billion. I'm flexible. I could get by with just a good print. If need be, I'd squint a little, which you have to do anyway with a Picasso.
the only reason you can say that about Picasso is because of the fame he received, if his art work was just passed on like most artists today no one would have looked at it as genius. We can only say this after the fact that his works of art have sold for tens of millions of dollars that his work was genius....There are so many artists today and most of their art is passed on or looked at as well what ever..., I have also seen art work priced in the tens of millions of dollars that literally anyone of us on this forum could do, is that genius, nope.. its not...its just a buyer paying a premium for a work of art they hope to sell again later on to profit from it...
and what would you do with that billion? Could it in any way compare to the contribution Picasso, Mozart, Beethoven, Van Gough, Rembrandt have made to our lives, long after they lived their poorly compensated life. Maybe some day we will remember Warren and Bill for their billions, but I doubt it. All of us will remember Beethoven.
that's exactly what the curator at the California museum said to me. "He is only famous because of his name." Maybe true at the time, but his art has lived longer than he did, and will live longer than Bill and Warren's billions ever last. Have you ever seen one of his paintings in real life? It is life changing. And I deal with money all day long, and have never been impressed with a large account, even if it is my own.
Sorry, but you're making a false comparison now. You said you'd rather own a Picasso than have a billion dollars. Fair enough. But what would your contribution be to the world by merely owning it? Remember, you were referring to simple ownership and not contribution or creation of any kind in your earlier post.