Why ?

[Bazile]

Call me a philistine - however i'm struggling to understand what it is about this painting , that makes it worth 74m .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/...ainment-arts-19633293

I suppose your'e all going to direct be to the brush strokes ... ?


Be gentle now , mind

[emmie]

and still probably end in a vault. Van Gogh made little money out of his work, and now his painting fetch millions, total madness.

[VHG]

>>>total madness.

A rather ironic statement given Van Gogh's stae of mind that eventually led to his suicide.

[Duncer]

"the girl playing tennis with the bare bottom?"


How do you play tennis with a bare bottom?

[Essell]

It was an iconic expressionist painting. But I suspect many people would want it for status and investment. Who would pay such a vast amount for Tracy Emin's Unmade Bed when they could replicate it so easily at home ? Surely not just for the pleasure of looking at .
As for Picasso - he could paint as well as an old master by the age of 14. The portrait of his mother is stunning. How was he to develop afterwards? Many of his paintings carry strong political messages, and many are just experimental as he explored and developed the concept of cubism.

[Mosaic]

Following on from Essell's points, these hugely inflated sums of money for 'works of art' are situations brought about by art dealers. The likes of Saatchi etc ensure that very rich patrons who want to be thought of as discerning want to acquire the latest / best / most significant, and want to be seen paying a huge amount for it (or to remain Importantly Anonymous).
I think this particular painting by Munch is very interesting and certainly much better than his other works. It also sits in an interesting point in the history of 19th and 20th century art. But I can't even get my head around £74M. Thank goodness it's all over t'interweb so we can look at it for free.

[Essell]

Saatchi certainly have the wealthy sussed ! I saw a programme a year or two ago, about some of the problems of investing in conceptual art. Increasing numbers of wealthy collectors are buying up warehousing or other large spaces just to store their collections. Somehow it all seems rather sad. Maybe this is what Bill Gates recognised as he more or less gives his fortune away.