$ 136 million for a Klimt, $71,1 million for an Andy Warhol. It’s not that art is expensive but rather that money has become cheap. The art market has attracted new fortunes, redistributing important works to a rising group of collectors. Sophisticated marketing campaigns, celebrity dealers, luxurious parties, and a wealthy elite that is passionate about art all play key roles in each record –breaking sale. The Worth of Art (2) is a view from the inside- and outside- of an art world nourished by excess.
With keen insight into the business of art, author Judith Benhamou-Huet offers piercing analysis and amusing anecdotes about today’s mad love affair between art and money. The goal is paradoxical: Always pay more.