It's hard for me to wrap my head around this even though I've studied art for many years and am currently an artist myself:

Christie's sold a painting by Pablo Picasso Monday night for $179.4 million, far exceeding both the firm's expectations and the previous record for the most expensive work of art ever sold at auction.

The 1955 painting, Women of Algiers (Version "O"), is just one of several prized pieces going on sale during the May auction season. Bloomberg reports that dealers are putting art worth an estimated $2.3 billion up for auction over a period of two weeks this month. On Monday night, the auction house also sold Alberto Giacometti's Pointing Man, a 1947 sculpture, for $141.3 million.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/05/12/why-this-picasso-sold-for-180-million-and-what-it-tells-us-about-the-worlds-super-rich/

 

Last edited by Just Fred (5/12/2015 6:22 am)