Da Vinci painting or Paul Newman Daytonas?
Da Vinci?
(please say that like Tom Hanks in the trailer 2006 film The Da Vinci Code)
The last privately owned Leonardo Da Vinci (of Ninja Turtles fame) painting, Salvator Mundi was auctions off last week at Christie’s in New York. it went for….. $450,312,500 making it the most expensive painting ever sold. Paintings by the old master are rare (less than 20) and finished paintings are ever rarer. While we all hoped the piece would end up in a museums collection, the outrageous price dictates that might not have happened. As of the writing the buyer is still unknown.
IS IT REAL?
Who knows. Seriously, this work has been beaten and bruised and “restored” a few times over the last 600 years. Lots in the art world including critic extraordinaire, Jerry Saltz, don’t believe this is real. You can read his article as to why it’s not real.
Is that really a lot of money?
To put some perspective on this amount of money into wrist watch terms… you could have alternatively purchased:
- 25 Rolex Paul Newman Paul Newman Daytonas.
- 450 Vacheron Constantin Celestia watches.
- 30,000 New Rolex Daytonas
- Every single watch David Wellington has ever and will ever produce.(No website available)
or In Non-watch terms…
- A cure for a major ailment: Cancer, Lupus, Myasthenia Gravis, etc.
- Contributed to solved a large chuck of a major societal problem.
Other notable sales from the evening:
- Andy Warhol’s Sixty Last Suppers from 1986 sold for $60,875,000. (Approx 3.5 Paul New Paul Newman Daytonas)
- Cy Twombly’s Untitled from 2005 sold for $46,437,500 (2.7 PNPNDs)
- Mark Rothko’s Saffron, 1957- Sold for $32,375,000 (2 PNPNDs)
In conclusion
The, art, world has gone mad. If this went to a private seller, boo. If the private seller hands it over to a museum, yay. Nothing is worth that much money and certainly not a painting, no matter who painted, how long ago. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an art lover, but this really is insanity. Not unlike the Paul Newman Daytona sale last month. The level of crazy on that price is nothing like this though. Maybe one day we’ll get to see it hanging in the Louvre, Met, Hermitage or Appleton Museum.
