Is it a reality or a golden mirage?
This is the answer that the art market must find in the coming weeks.
In her book
Big Bucks: the Explosion of the Art Market In The 21st Century
, critic Georgina Adams recalls a conversation with an experienced auctioneer: “What I really want to know is why a
1960s Warhol like
Liz
[
represented actress Elizabeth Taylor] goes from selling for $2 million in 1999 to $24 million in just eight years?
Today the auctioneer should question what logic hides spending 195 million dollars (about 185 million euros) on a serigraph (
Shot Sage Blue Marilyn
,
1964) by the American artist.
The highest price achieved by a work of the 20th century.
That amount dwarfs the 179.3 million dollars at which the canvas Les Femmes d'Alger Version 'O'
(1955), signed by Picasso,
was auctioned on May 15, 2015 in New York —and also at Christie's .
The answer is the same then as it is now: the huge number of billionaires who could spend more than a million dollars on a piece.
More information
Andy Warhol's 'Marilyn' becomes the most expensive work of art of the 20th century
There is money, there is desire and there are trophies.
The protective sky for the market.
During the months of the pandemic, many owners have waited for better days thinking about disposing of their treasures.
Either they were sold by private sale or stored waiting for other numbers.
But this price reveals a lot.
To the art market, the war in the Ukraine resonates very far away, as does inflation or the fluctuations of the Stock Market.
The Russian oligarchs (who have been banned by the United States and Europe from buying luxury products) count little or nothing.
Its absence is not noticed.
And it continues to be a business of more than 65,000 million dollars (61,600 million euros, at current exchange rates) managed by the United States (in 2021, the latest available data, it controlled 43% in market value) and China.
Although the concern will come if the confinement in Shanghai is prolonged.
Once again no one seems to have read
Capital in the 21st century
(Fund for Economic Culture), by the economist Thomas Piketty.
Current art —and not only in the prices that guide astronomers— is a monologue of inequity.
01:29
Auctioned 'Shot Sage Blue Marilyn', the most expensive work of the 20th century
Two operators move the Warhol painting this Sunday in the Christie's exhibition hall in New York.
However, the problem can shift from a shortage of supply to a shortage of demand.
When they exceed 100 million dollars, the number of buyers (collectors such as Peter Brant, Kenneth Griffin, Larry Gagosian, Philip Niarchos or Steven A. Cohen) is greatly reduced.
And in the next two weeks the main auction houses will bring to the market works valued at 1,900 million euros.
The question is whether there will be enough collectors.
Because of the three theological virtues – faith, hope and charity – only the last one is missing, of course.
The Met is selling a 1909 Picasso bronze (
Head of a Woman, Fernande
) on May 12 to raise funds to buy new works.
He has faith and hope in achieving 30 million dollars.
Also professed Sotheby's, which on May 19 offers a
twombly
and a
bacon,
both with an estimate of between 40 and 60 million dollars.
On May 18, Phillips proposes a
basquiat
of 70 million.
The seller — Japanese businessman Yusaku Maezawa — shelled out $57.3 million at Christie's six years ago.
Charity?
Money.
And the artists?
Speculation (
flipping,
in the jargon), especially with black painters and women, is immense.
Many "collectors" see the business.
Amoako Boafo, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Lynette Yiadom-Boakye, Reggie Burrows Hodges or Aboudia have traveled in the space of the pandemic from five to six figures.
The resale of painters, very young, had not been so intense for years.
Throw the dice.
The cheaper the better.
Wait for the double six.
Rachel Jones (1991) or Flora Yukhnovich (1990).
Both in their early thirties.
The first has exceeded 600,000 pounds (700,000 euros) and the second, one million dollars (about 948,000 euros).
Even the old masters rejuvenate.
The challenge is supply and attribution.
The lack of works puts pressure on cataloging.
Sotheby's sold in January for $45.4 million a
botticelli
(
Christ, man of Dolores
) that Frank Zöllner, expert in the Florentine painter, put between doubts and tears.
The capital still paints a lot in the market.
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