Is it really worth that much?

I've just read here that a Picasso could fetch up to $100million. Is a painting really worth that much, and what makes it better (or more expensive) than one painted by an unknown artist?

Well it's not my favourite Picasso which you can find here http://www.forbes.com/2001/05/08/0509hot.html

However it is a rather nice painting and personally I'd rather we spent such sums on art than atomic bombs.Yes feeding the world would be even better but man cannot live by bread alone.

Incog.

[punky]

A painting like that isn't used as a painting per se. It is an antique, that is bought sold for investment purposes. Not displayed to the world, but locked away in a safe for a few years until it is worth a bit more and sold.

A good painting/picture can cost you £5 and be worth more to you than that Picasso if you like looking at it.

[Charlie_Bubble]

Believe me. Go to the national gallery or any other large collection of paintings and you can tell the difference between a run-of-the-mill artist and some of the old masters. Their work has a little something special about it. As punky says, it's also a part of history and you also have the name that goes with it. Why do people pay hundreds of thousands of pounds more for a Rolls Royce/Bentley/Aston Martin/Ferrari? They're only cars aren't they. Surely a 25 year old Nissan bluebird is just as good!

Like anything else - it's worth what someone is willing to pay.

[Halcyon]

Well think about it..... Picasso is dead so you are not going to be able to go and ask him to paint another one.
That is what makes these paintings rare as there are only a certain amount that were produced, and will never be produced again, and that have survived this long.

[luftys]

Well Iam off to buy a painting for £5
Then I can shoot the artist so my painting is worth more now

[Halcyon]

good idea luftys.


I'm actually thinking of buying some artwork soon for my room, or maybe I'l create some of my own.

[punky]

Originally Posted by Charlie_Bubble

Believe me. Go to the national gallery or any other large collection of paintings and you can tell the difference between a run-of-the-mill artist and some of the old masters. Their work has a little something special about it.

True, but don't forget, when some/most of those masterpieces were first done, noone liked them, and they were traded for pennies. At the time they were run of the mill artists too.