Top Art Stories of 2007 (and other interesting facts)
January 18th, 2008
Topping international art news last year…
By Judit Trunkos and Todd Morehead
Topping the international art news for last year:
On May 15, 2007 Mark Rothko’s “White Center” (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) sold for an astonishing $72,840,000 at Sotheby’s New York, becoming the most expensive contemporary painting at auction and overcoming the artist’s previous high of $22.4 million, achieved in November 2005. The following night at Christie’s, another contemporary piece was sold for a groundbreaking high price: Andy Warhol’s “Green Car Crash (Green Burning Car I)” went for $71,720,000, breaking the artist’s previous record of $17.4 million, set in November 2006. While both pieces fetched a very high price separately, you would still have to combine them to reach Pollock’s staggering $140 million price tag.
Damien Hirst’s “For the Love of God,” a diamond-encrusted human skull, wins the award for most notorious artwork of 2007. The shiny skull, valued at $100 million, was barely sold, but the scandal and the continuous publicity brought Hirst much attention throughout the year, guaranteeing the artist prosperous future sales.
A legal dispute surrounding Christoph Buchel’s installation “Training Ground for Democracy” (2007) was put on hold for months due to both creative and financial disputes between the artist and the venue (Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art). The budget, funded largely by the museum, reportedly doubled (the fuselage for a 727 jetliner, one of the many materials requested by the artist, could not be obtained, for example). The half finished installation—which was to feature the interior of an abandoned movie theater, a full-scale house and other everyday items smashed within large cinderblock walls, police cruisers and guard shacks—was kept in the museum and Buchel claimed MASS MoCA showed it without his permission, though the museum maintains they kept it behind vinyl tarps. The art institution wanted to either get the piece out of their space or exhibit it immediately, but the artist would only show his installation under his terms. In the end, after much media attention, the museum won and the artwork was disassembled.
With art, more expensive does not mean better
While 2007 saw a few staggering price tags for modern and contemporary art, the old adage remains: more expensive doesn’t always mean better (or at least most beloved). Comparing lists of most expensive paintings with the most famous paintings, I found that none of the most famous paintings are on the “expensive” list. That, of course, does not mean that the “Mona Lisa,” for instance, did not make the top 10 most expensive. On the contrary, the “Mona Lisa” would probably lead the list with its appraised value of $670 million if it were for sale. But, it is not for sale. Nor is Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” (#2), or “The Starry Night” by Van Gogh (#9). So what is for sale? Mostly pieces younger than 200 years old, works that have the potential to be considered masterpieces or older works that are not as well known. Museums own the older pieces and are constantly looking to own contemporary art to continue the trend.
Most Expensive Paintings
1. $140 million for “No. 5” By Jackson Pollock
2. $ 137 million for “Women III” By William de Kooning
3. $135 million for “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” By Gustav Klimt
4. $104 million for “Boy with a Pipe” By Pablo Picasso
5. $95.2 million for “Dora Maar with Cat” By Pablo Picasso
6. $82.5 million for “Portrait du Dr. Gachet” By Vincent van Gogh
7. $78.1 million for “Au Moulin de la Galette” By Pierre-Auguste Renoir
8. $76.7 million for “The Massacre of the Innocents” By Paul Rubens
9. $71.5 million for “Portrait de L’Artiste sans Barbe” By Vincent van Gogh
10. $60.5 million for “Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier” By Paul Cézanne
Further comparing the world’s most famous paintings with the “Top 30 Famous Artists” (compiled by Artcyclopedia), names like Jackson Pollock, de Kooning, and Gustav Klimt become hard to find, all of a sudden. While Pollock leads the most expensive list, he is only ranked 28 on the most famous artists list and ranked 61 at Artfacts.net. While de Kooning’s and Klimt’s works stand as the second and third most expensive paintings ever sold, their names are nowhere on the famous artists’ list. How is it possible that the artists who painted “No.5,” so far the most expensive painting ever sold, and the artists whose works “Women III” and “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I” sold for $137.5 million and $135 million respectively, are barely known by the general public? The answer is simple. Private collectors and galleries are always looking for the next master and many times, they create them by purchasing their work for exorbitant amounts and thus add to their notoriety. In other words, if Pollock, de Kooning or Klimt are not well-known enough yet, they will be soon as the collectors demand continues to rise for their canvases.
Most Famous Paintings Everyone Must See
1. “Mona Lisa” By Leonardo da Vinci
2. “The Last Supper” By Leonardo da Vinci
3. “The Kiss” By Gustav Klimt
4. “The Birth of Venus” By Sandro Boticelli
5. “Girl with a Pearl Earring” By Johannes Vermeer
6. “The Scream” By Edvard Munch
7. “American Gothic” By Grant Wood
8. “A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of la Grande Jatte” By Georges Seurat
9. “The Starry Night” By Vincent van Gogh
10. “The Great Wave off Kanagawa” By Hokusai
If we all must see the above paintings then let’s look at a list of the worlds top five cities for art lovers.
World’s Top Five Cities for Art Lovers
- Berlin, Germany
Berlin has it all: a world-class collection of ancient Greek and Roman artifacts at the Altes Museum; art from Africa, the South Pacific and Native American cultures at the Dahlemer Museum; the Gemaldegalerie, featuring works from Botticelli, Rembrandt, Raphael, and Caravaggio; the Neue Nationalgalerie, featuring Ernst, Munch, Picasso, and others; and last but certainly not least, the Museumsinsel (a.k.a. “Museum Island”), featuring the Alte Nationalgalerie gallery, which houses a wonderful collection of Impressionist paintings, alongside works by German Impressionists like Max Lieberman.
- Chicago, USA
Known primarily for the Art Institute of Chicago (housing Dali, Pollock and others) the windy city also boasts the Museum of Contemporary Art which features contemporary exhibits from all over the world including performance art and music.
- Florence, Italy
Michelangelo’s hometown and the birthplace of the Renaissance. Need we say more?
- London, England
The British Museum, itself, should be considered one of the great wonders of the world. Among thousands other priceless artifacts, it houses the Rosetta Stone, the Elgin marbles and currently features sculptures from the infamous Chinese “Terracotta Army” that was buried with Emperor Qin in 210 B.C. The National Gallery features works by Van Gogh and Da Vince and the Tate museum and Saatchi Gallery are both world-class venues for contemporary art.
- New York, USA
The Big Apple has always held its own in international art circles. The Met, like the Louvre or the British Museum, offers so much, that it takes a few visits to take it all in. The Guggenheim, a work of art in itself, houses works by Kandinsky and Picasso in it’s permanent collection; and the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum and the New Museum of Contemporary Art should definitely not be missed.
Top 10 Bizarre Artworks (by ListVerse.com)
- “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” By Damien Hirst
- “My Bed” By Tracey Emin
- “Bend It” By Gilbert and George Proesch
- “Dolls” By Hans Bellmer
- “Cadaver 3” By Gunther von Hagens
- “Death II” By Jack and Dinos Chapman
- “Janet” By Clare Shenstone
- “Fountain” By Marcel Duchamp
- “Innocent X avec viande” By Francis Bacon
- “Vanitas: Flesh Dress for an Albino Anorectic” By Jana Sterbak
Looking at the weirdo list of arts, first of all I am glad to see Duchamp still on the list. One of the founders of Dada is holding the number 8 position with his readymade urinal among the equally messed up art pieces of today. As was expected from the 21st Century, at number 3, there is a YouTube piece by the Proesch brothers, portraying two, middle-aged men stiffly dancing. But it gets freakier as the list goes on. At number 5 there is von Hagens’ “Cadaver 3” which, to me, looks like how Da Vinci’s studio might have looked like back in the time before the plastination process. With this work, von Hagens preserved a human body—in this case a half-dissected pregnant women, showing the fetus inside the mother’s stomach. Von Hagens is currently involved in the “Body Worlds” traveling exhibitions, which just ended in Charlotte, N.C. Finally at number 10 there is Jana Sterbak’s sculpture made of steak. The meat-fabric creates a dress for the albino anorectic women covering her with the flesh she forced off her natural body.
Also it is interesting to note that the bizarre art list is dominated by British artists (6 out of 10).
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