Painting sells for $119,922,500.

[ZenOps]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2012/may/03/the-scream-sells-record-auction

I dunno, if the dollar is about to collapse, should I invest pennies and nickels - or art?

[iEyeCaptain]

Not just any painting.

The Scream.

It's something that is truly one of a kind. What else in the world can you say that about?

[appleb]

I hate art as much as everyone else, but I kind of laughed at the thread title that describes this important piece as just a 'painting'.

[r1lee]

damn the 1%.

[sylpherware]

It's something that is truly one of a kind. What else in the world can you say that about?

I'm one of a kind :o

Man, it really sucks to be an Artist (as a profession) - you're only famous when you're dead.

[BornRuff]

Not just any painting.

The Scream.

It's something that is truly one of a kind. What else in the world can you say that about?

Actually, Munch created at least 4 of these.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scream

But yes, it is certainly a significant piece of art.

[BananaHunter]

This is a good piece of art and famous to boot. What I hate are paintings that don't look like anything. Some of them feel like they put random strokes on the board and then spilled some random colors over it. These shouldn't be "sold" at all at any price.

[Powder + park raider]

******** how something like this that doesn't contribute anything in the physically world costs this much.

[Kingmoo]

looks like it was painted by a child

[Corleone187]

This is a good piece of art and famous to boot. What I hate are paintings that don't look like anything. Some of them feel like they put random strokes on the board and then spilled some random colors over it. These shouldn't be "sold" at all at any price.

I think that is known as stream of consciousness like Jackson Pollock...it's like "yeah i'll just do whatever"

This Scream actually seams like a pretty good deal for $120m comparatively speaking

I would get da Vinci Note Book though it was only $30m comparatively speaking of course seems like a steal

[longitude]

HERE IT IS, FOR FREE!!!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f4/The_Scream.jpg

[sandikosh]

The bidder could have saved a ton of money by commissioning me to make a copy. I would charged him a paltry million.

[bman77]

Some people have a little too much disposeable income...

[sandikosh]

Some people have a little too much disposeable income...

I wouldn't be surprised if he write it off in taxes.

[Corleone187]

The bidder could have saved a ton of money by commissioning me to make a copy. I would charged him a paltry million.

They're not looking to pay low though, they're looking to pay high. The sale of these paintings have more to do with the price tag than the actual painting.

For example what if you wanted the most expensive painting in the world? You can't really get your hands on the Mona Lisa or some other paintings in a private collection even though you have the money.

I think this is the problem with the private sales like with the Jackson Pollock. Instead of being sold for a REAL $20 million at an auction they do a private sale for $160 million and the guy gets the painting AND the "claim" that it's the highest paid painting at the same time. When you're that rich you buy something for the prestiege of owning the highest paid painting rather than to have the painting itself.

This is why I don't trust private sales of the high end art cause I think they are intentionally done in private to skew the real value of the art which would be much lower if it went to auction. But the buyer wants to pay more because that means his stuff is worth more if he pays more.

[Piro21]

Wow, they sold The Scream? That's a damn bargain for such a famous work of art. I think the reward for it when it got stolen was more than this, wasn't it?

[zz000ter]

Why is this piece of art "important"?

It is paint on canvas.
I has saved no lives
It has not put a child through school

One person enjoys it

Big deal

Imagine how many school books could be bought with $120M

[Piro21]

Why is this piece of art "important"?

It is paint on canvas.
I has saved no lives
It has not put a child through school

One person enjoys it

Big deal

Imagine how many school books could be bought with $120M

Why is the Shroud of Turin important? It's just a piece of cloth with some stains on it. If we're going into 'imagine how many school books' territory, what does the average NHL player really need millions of dollars for?

[BornRuff]

Why is this piece of art "important"?

It is paint on canvas.
I has saved no lives
It has not put a child through school

One person enjoys it

Big deal

Imagine how many school books could be bought with $120M

This particular piece is actually pastel on cardboard. He also created ones with paint, and a lithograph of it as well.

This is valuable for the same reason that gold is valuable.

[BornRuff]

HERE IT IS, FOR FREE!!!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f4/The_Scream.jpg

Actually, that appears to be the pastel and oil version that he did in 1893.

This is the one that was sold for 120 million, which is just pastel on cardboard.

Apologies for the size, but it probably gives the best effect this way.

http://cdn.wwtdd.com/wp-content/uploads/2000/08/edvard-munch-the-scream-pastel-on-cardboard-1895.jpg

[zz000ter]

This is valuable for the same reason that gold is valuable.

Please explain

The way I see it

1. Someone said "Oohhh aahhh - pretty picture - this is important"
2. Someone paid too much for it
3. Next guy wanted to show he had a bigger art penis than the previous guy and so he paid even more for it
4. The ponzi process increases price on and on and on
5. Now the "myth" of the picture is more than the picture itself

Go figure someone has to drag Christianity into debate yet again (Shroud of Turin)
- yet the mods do nothing against people making stealth attacks on Christianity

BTW - how much was the Shroud sold for ????
I thought it is a historical relic held by the Church

[BornRuff]

Please explain

The way I see it

1. Someone said "Oohhh aahhh - pretty picture - this is important"
2. Someone paid too much for it
3. Next guy wanted to show he had a bigger art penis than the previous guy and so he paid even more for it
4. The ponzi process increases price on and on and on
5. Now the "myth" of the picture is more than the picture itself

Go figure someone has to drag Christianity into debate yet again (Shroud of Turin)
- yet the mods do nothing against people making stealth attacks on Christianity

BTW - how much was the Shroud sold for ????
I thought it is a historical relic held by the Church

If you think art prices have anything to do with ponzi schemes, you really don't know what a Ponzi scheme is, but anyways.....

If you consider why gold is valuable, it is pretty much exactly as you describe(minus the "Ponzi process")

[Junigenmukyoku]

One man's trash is another man's treasure.

[zz000ter]

"Art" has no inherent value aside from the labour and material cost required to produce it.

[Piro21]

Please explain

The way I see it

1. Someone said "Oohhh aahhh - pretty picture - this is important"
2. Someone paid too much for it
3. Next guy wanted to show he had a bigger art penis than the previous guy and so he paid even more for it
4. The ponzi process increases price on and on and on
5. Now the "myth" of the picture is more than the picture itself

Go figure someone has to drag Christianity into debate yet again (Shroud of Turin)
- yet the mods do nothing against people making stealth attacks on Christianity

BTW - how much was the Shroud sold for ????
I thought it is a historical relic held by the Church

How do you get 'attack on Christianity' from that? You missed the point entirely.

I was trying to say it's worth the price it's worth because someone wanted to pay that for it, just like anything else. Why are people willing to pay $80 for a $2 piece of cut cloth with 'Hugo Boss' written on it? Why pay $30 to see some guys play baseball at the Skydome when I can see that in my local park for free? Why pay $200,000 for a 1977 Corvette when I can get a new one for less than half of that? Paying a price for something people want is capitalism at it's finest. You only see the basic components, but others see value. Hence, it has value.

[BornRuff]

"Art" has no inherent value aside from the labour and material cost required to produce it.

Gold has no real inherent value anywhere near the value that it trades at.

This piece of cardboard could be used as fuel for a fire, or to patch a hole, or many other practical uses, just like gold has some practical uses products, but neither would trade at anywhere near the price it does if people didn't think it was pretty and a good investment.

[Coz4k]

Roi heenok bought it.

[MrKap]

Some people pay to keep elephants in zoos.

The other people open museums.

Who's smarter?


IN any event, the painting sort of looks like it was done in pencil first, and then painted over top. Would I pay to see it? Only if it was displayed next ancient egyptian artifacts, or alien skulls.


Besides that, what are the chances it's going to go up in value? Probably good. I'm going to go buy shares in Walmart now.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47149394/ns/business-stocks_and_economy/t/wal-mart-shaken-bribery-probe-shares-plunge/


CHICAGO/MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc lost $10 billion of its market value on Monday on concerns that a bribery investigation in Mexico could be very costly and hinder its plans to grow.

[RastaManMax]

Please explain

The way I see it

1. Someone said "Oohhh aahhh - pretty picture - this is important"
2. Someone paid too much for it
3. Next guy wanted to show he had a bigger art penis than the previous guy and so he paid even more for it
4. The ponzi process increases price on and on and on
5. Now the "myth" of the picture is more than the picture itself

Go figure someone has to drag Christianity into debate yet again (Shroud of Turin)
- yet the mods do nothing against people making stealth attacks on Christianity

BTW - how much was the Shroud sold for ????
I thought it is a historical relic held by the Church

The joys of public forums is that anybody, even societies 'most special' members, can converse amongst real people.

[zz000ter]

How do you get 'attack on Christianity' from that? You missed the point entirely.

Out of all the examples of art in the world,
you pick the Shroud of Turin (which is not "art")
to equate to my comment that the price of this piece of art is stupid.

You know very well what you are doing.



The joys of public forums is that anybody, even societies 'most special' members, can converse amongst real people.

If it wasn't for the forums - were would you converse amongst real people? ha ha ha

Real people do not fall for mass delusions

[Piro21]

Out of all the examples of art in the world,
you pick the Shroud of Turin (which is not "art")
to equate to my comment that the price of this piece of art is stupid.

You know very well what you are doing.




If it wasn't for the forums - were would you converse amongst real people? ha ha ha

Real people do not fall for mass delusions

I picked it because it's a fitting example. It has value to some and not to others, and is considered one of the most valuable objects in the world. If you look at it simply for what it is with no context, it's worthless, but if you see the forest for the trees it's priceless. Get what I was going for now?

[neutral]

They're not looking to pay low though, they're looking to pay high. The sale of these paintings have more to do with the price tag than the actual painting.

For example what if you wanted the most expensive painting in the world? You can't really get your hands on the Mona Lisa or some other paintings in a private collection even though you have the money.

I think this is the problem with the private sales like with the Jackson Pollock. Instead of being sold for a REAL $20 million at an auction they do a private sale for $160 million and the guy gets the painting AND the "claim" that it's the highest paid painting at the same time. When you're that rich you buy something for the prestiege of owning the highest paid painting rather than to have the painting itself.

This is why I don't trust private sales of the high end art cause I think they are intentionally done in private to skew the real value of the art which would be much lower if it went to auction. But the buyer wants to pay more because that means his stuff is worth more if he pays more.

Hmmmmm.... Well if you know any buyer's I'm willing to private sale the most expensive used car in history. Yours for only 10 million dollars.

[zz000ter]

I picked it because it's a fitting example. It has value to some and not to others, and is considered one of the most valuable objects in the world. If you look at it simply for what it is with no context, it's worthless, but if you see the forest for the trees it's priceless. Get what I was going for now?

So you pick a religious artifact - which has more than monetary value to over a billion people
and you decide that it would be a good example of something that is "worthless" having value to some

Just out of curiosity - why did you not pick some Muslim or Hindu religious artifact to use as an example?
... but it is perfectly OK to mock Christians?

[Piro21]

So you pick a religious artifact - which has more than monetary value to over a billion people
and you decide that it would be a good example of something that is "worthless" having value to some

Just out of curiosity - why did you not pick some Muslim or Hindu religious artifact to use as an example?
... but it is perfectly OK to mock Christians?

Name a Muslim or Hindu artifact that's as famous as the shroud of Turin. No googling. I'm not even going to ask that it match the context of the discussion.

And yes, the fact that it's valued by Christians but wouldn't be by anyone else is exactly why I picked it. The rationale is clearly explained in my previous post.

[zz000ter]

But the odd thing is that you seem to have a pattern in anti-Christian commentary
which you do not appear to have for other religions
so the trend continues

... but I might be wrong

[Piro21]

But the odd thing is that you seem to have a pattern in anti-Christian commentary
which you do not appear to have for other religions
so the trend continues

... but I might be wrong

How do you figure? I'm not very pro-religion in general. Maybe you're just taking general comments I've made and identifying them with Christianity because you're Christian? That may not be the case if you're the type to get this offended by a simple example of relative value, but it could be an explanation of why you think that about me.

[aaronl3e7]

If I ever bought a painting that expensive it would be so that I could launder a ton of money through.


...you buy something for the prestiege of owning the highest paid painting rather than to have the painting itself.

+1
Many of the owners of expensive pieces of art are not art connoisseurs or aficionados by any means, they are interested in the status that comes with it. Just imagine the kind of party this person is throwing to celebrate this purchase.


Hmmmmm.... Well if you know any buyer's I'm willing to private sale the most expensive used car in history. Yours for only 10 million dollars.

Dude, that's too cheap, no self respecting billionaire would buy your 10 million dollar car. You need to raise your price...There was a Ferrari 250GTO that sold in Britain earlier this year for £20.2 million.

[CSR]

Is that a UFO?

[AudiDude]

If nobody knew what it was, I am confident that if I leaned it up against the garbage facing the road on garbage day, nobody would take it. I predict that some kids on their way to school would kick the face in and laugh at the hole they made.

[longitude]

Roi heenok bought it.

I knew it!

[longitude]

HERE IT IS, FOR FREE!!!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/f/f4/The_Scream.jpg


Actually, that appears to be the pastel and oil version that he did in 1893.

This is the one that was sold for 120 million, which is just pastel on cardboard.

Apologies for the size, but it probably gives the best effect this way.

http://cdn.wwtdd.com/wp-content/uploads/2000/08/edvard-munch-the-scream-pastel-on-cardboard-1895.jpg

It is a nice painting indeed.

[Haz]

If nobody knew what it was, I am confident that if I leaned it up against the garbage facing the road on garbage day, nobody would take it. I predict that some kids on their way to school would kick the face in and laugh at the hole they made.

You can say that with just about anything.

[AudiDude]

You can say that with just about anything.

You could but how true would it be? If I put a piece of thick plate steel out there it would get taken before morning, but if not, nobody would come over and kick a hole in it. If the painting had a scene that people could relate to, painted in colours that matched their decor, no matter how boring, it stands a better chance of getting rescued than that piece.

It really does look similar to a high school kid attempting to mimic an expressive painter. As an expressive painting, I most definitely not inspired by this one.

Good news is that I am not left hanging as to what the picture is about. Here is the description:


I was walking along a path with two friends – the sun was setting – suddenly the sky turned blood red – I paused, feeling exhausted, and leaned on the fence – there was blood and tongues of fire above the blue-black fjord and the city – my friends walked on, and I stood there trembling with anxiety – and I sensed an infinite scream passing through nature.

[Haz]

You could but how true would it be? If I put a piece of thick plate steel out there it would get taken before morning, but if not, nobody would come over and kick a hole in it. If the painting had a scene that people could relate to, painted in colours that matched their decor, no matter how boring, it stands a better chance of getting rescued than that piece.

It really does look similar to a high school kid attempting to mimic an expressive painter. As an expressive painting, I most definitely not inspired by this one.

Good news is that I am not left hanging as to what the picture is about. Here is the description:

The key words you used.


If nobody knew what it was

So if you put out a sheet of gold next to your garbage and nobody knew what it was, someone may indeed kick a hold in it.

[AudiDude]

The key words you used.



So if you put out a sheet of gold next to your garbage and nobody knew what it was, someone may indeed kick a hold in it.

When I mean nobody knows what it is, I mean the perceived value. That painting sold on perceived value most likely due to the fact that people tried to steal the item. People would take it for it's perceived value. As far as artistic design which has no value that won't be estimated the same by many people, that terrible picture would rate very low.

As far as gold goes. Why did people originally find gold and turn it into jewelry? Because is was shiny and attractive. This apparently was a common thought the world over and it still is considered that to this day in conjunction with possessing some other attributes not known at the time of it's discovery. Chances are someone might find the gold shiny and attractive and take it, or gold is curiously heavy for its size relative to other more common metals which may cause it to be picked up as well. Someone may very well try to kick a hole in it, but with the gold sheet, the steel plate, and the painting left on all the different garbages in the world, value unknown, I am confident the painting would lose out the majority of the time.