We enjoy following news from the art world, and the New York Times had a whopper on Thursday — namely, that a work by the famous French painter Paul Gauguin has sold for $300 million.
That’s right: $300 million. An eye-popping sum, and possibly the highest amount ever paid for an artwork, according to the Times. The 1892 painting, “Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?),” depicts two Tahitian girls in Gauguin’s familiar, colorful post-Impressionistic style. There’s some mystery involved — the sale was done quietly between the seller, a retired Sothby’s executive in Switzerland, and the unknown buyer, who may be the museum system in the tiny, oil-rich Arab state of Qatar.
The paper pointed out that the art world is seeing more of these huge-value sales of big-name artists, driven in part by the Qataris. The impact on the museum and art world remains to be seen.
Your thoughts? Email me at rrollins@coxohio.com.
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