What's Happening in Today's Art Market:How High is Up?
[Pablo Picasso, Femme accroupie au costume turc, 1955]
In 1995, Femme accroupie au costume turc, a particularly good example of Pablo Picasso’s postwar period, was bought by the Nahmad family for 2.5 million dollars. Last year, the family sold the masterpiece for a staggering 30.8 million dollars just 4 years later – a dozenfold increase in the painting’s market value. And Femme accroupie was just one among hundreds of record-breaking sales made privately and at auction in the past twelve months alone. It seems there is no end to the demand for good paintings by the modern masters.
This rapid escalation in value is not limited to paintings. We are seeing prices skyrocket for work – good, authentic work, of course – in all media. The price tags for many examples of Picasso’s graphic work, that of Rembrandt, and even that of Andy Warhol have appreciated as much as 200-300 percent over the last several years. The soaring art market is not just responding to any heightened inflation in the wider world; it is responding simply to demand – and, of course, to the relative rarity of first-rate works by old and modern masters.
Additionally, those ambitious collectors who are participating – or competing, if you will – in these supercharged markets have been driving up the prices on what is purported to be the most popular contemporary art as well. The recent class of new wealth is uninterested in acquiring historically grounded work, and these collectors are taking immense risks on younger artists whose staying power and relative substance has not yet been proven. For some collectors, especially those in emerging markets such as China, India and Russia, it becomes almost a matter of national pride and cultural comprehension; a newly minted mogul wants logically to support his (or her) artist-countrymen, and also doesn’t need a keen knowledge of art history to understand what they are doing. For seasoned collectors worldwide, including the United States, “betting” tens of millions of dollars on thirty-year-old artists seems to be as much a game of sport as it is an extremely speculative investment in the future.
The hopeful thinking is that some of the favored artists may go down in history, and so will the collector who helps those artists rise to such prominence toward the outset of their careers. As a result, newer collectors tend to buy, often in bulk, the same things the high-profile, socially chic collectors are buying. People follow with an almost religious fanaticism what the Saatchis, for instance, are buying, and selling. The basements of many provincial museums in Europe are crammed with such one-time darlings of the rich and acquisitive, while the van Goghs that were undesirable and unsellable when he was alive now hang prominently on permanent display.
Conversely, many collectors aiming their discretionary funds at contemporary art need to buy exactly what everybody else is buying – not just to have the “proper” names in their art portfolio, but to ensure that they have instant short-term liquidity. In an article published during the 2006 Art Basel/Miami fair, The Art Newspaper called this the “Warhol Effect,” attributing the fact that Warhol was the most represented artist at the fair to his having become a “universal brand name” and as a result appealing to those who want simply to invest in art rather than live with it. Many of these “blind” buyers aren’t collecting art; they’re flipping it, like real estate. (And we’ve recently seen what has happened to that market.)
In 1995, Femme accroupie au costume turc, a particularly good example of Pablo Picasso’s postwar period, was bought by the Nahmad family for 2.5 million dollars. Last year, the family sold the masterpiece for a staggering 30.8 million dollars just 4 years later – a dozenfold increase in the painting’s market value. And Femme accroupie was just one among hundreds of record-breaking sales made privately and at auction in the past twelve months alone. It seems there is no end to the demand for good paintings by the modern masters.
This rapid escalation in value is not limited to paintings. We are seeing prices skyrocket for work – good, authentic work, of course – in all media. The price tags for many examples of Picasso’s graphic work, that of Rembrandt, and even that of Andy Warhol have appreciated as much as 200-300 percent over the last several years. The soaring art market is not just responding to any heightened inflation in the wider world; it is responding simply to demand – and, of course, to the relative rarity of first-rate works by old and modern masters.
Additionally, those ambitious collectors who are participating – or competing, if you will – in these supercharged markets have been driving up the prices on what is purported to be the most popular contemporary art as well. The recent class of new wealth is uninterested in acquiring historically grounded work, and these collectors are taking immense risks on younger artists whose staying power and relative substance has not yet been proven. For some collectors, especially those in emerging markets such as China, India and Russia, it becomes almost a matter of national pride and cultural comprehension; a newly minted mogul wants logically to support his (or her) artist-countrymen, and also doesn’t need a keen knowledge of art history to understand what they are doing. For seasoned collectors worldwide, including the United States, “betting” tens of millions of dollars on thirty-year-old artists seems to be as much a game of sport as it is an extremely speculative investment in the future.
The hopeful thinking is that some of the favored artists may go down in history, and so will the collector who helps those artists rise to such prominence toward the outset of their careers. As a result, newer collectors tend to buy, often in bulk, the same things the high-profile, socially chic collectors are buying. People follow with an almost religious fanaticism what the Saatchis, for instance, are buying, and selling. The basements of many provincial museums in Europe are crammed with such one-time darlings of the rich and acquisitive, while the van Goghs that were undesirable and unsellable when he was alive now hang prominently on permanent display.
Conversely, many collectors aiming their discretionary funds at contemporary art need to buy exactly what everybody else is buying – not just to have the “proper” names in their art portfolio, but to ensure that they have instant short-term liquidity. In an article published during the 2006 Art Basel/Miami fair, The Art Newspaper called this the “Warhol Effect,” attributing the fact that Warhol was the most represented artist at the fair to his having become a “universal brand name” and as a result appealing to those who want simply to invest in art rather than live with it. Many of these “blind” buyers aren’t collecting art; they’re flipping it, like real estate. (And we’ve recently seen what has happened to that market.)
[Andy Warhol, Green Car Crash – Green Burning Car I, 1963
Unique silkscreen, sold May 2007 in New York for $71.7 million]
Where is the durable value in this? And where is the durable value in paying top dollar for unproven artists? In both cases, these artworks are being acquired for momentary gain (or glory), for the purpose of playing “the game” one way or another. The relative substance of the art in question notwithstanding, why bother? To put it bluntly, no matter how you play the game, for high stakes or safe, it’s a contest in conspicuous consumption, and it requires a huge purse to pursue. You can find high and secure value elsewhere – and wind up living with deeply involving pictures that happen also to figure crucially in art history.
For all the current art market hoopla, the most gratifying market sectors are those where scholarship, connoisseurship, and common sense lead to artworks of great beauty, mystery, soulfulness, and real monetary value. These sectors are where collectors can make prudent choices. What those in the know look for is artwork that embodies defining moments in the evolution of art, artworks that are at once beguiling objects and souvenirs of great moments in social, cultural, and artistic history. For example, a fully developed preparatory study for Picasso’s revolutionary 1907 masterpiece Les Démoiselles d’Avignon could be a very smart acquisition indeed.
Unique silkscreen, sold May 2007 in New York for $71.7 million]
Where is the durable value in this? And where is the durable value in paying top dollar for unproven artists? In both cases, these artworks are being acquired for momentary gain (or glory), for the purpose of playing “the game” one way or another. The relative substance of the art in question notwithstanding, why bother? To put it bluntly, no matter how you play the game, for high stakes or safe, it’s a contest in conspicuous consumption, and it requires a huge purse to pursue. You can find high and secure value elsewhere – and wind up living with deeply involving pictures that happen also to figure crucially in art history.
For all the current art market hoopla, the most gratifying market sectors are those where scholarship, connoisseurship, and common sense lead to artworks of great beauty, mystery, soulfulness, and real monetary value. These sectors are where collectors can make prudent choices. What those in the know look for is artwork that embodies defining moments in the evolution of art, artworks that are at once beguiling objects and souvenirs of great moments in social, cultural, and artistic history. For example, a fully developed preparatory study for Picasso’s revolutionary 1907 masterpiece Les Démoiselles d’Avignon could be a very smart acquisition indeed.
[Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon, 1907]
[Pablo Picasso, Nu dans un forêt, 1908
Mixed media on paper, sold November
2001 at auction in New York for $6.2 million]
[Pablo Picasso, Nu jaune, 1907
Mixed media on paper, sold November
2005 at auction for for $13.7 million]
2005 at auction for for $13.7 million]
{*This is an example of the kind of price appreciation that occurs with Picasso’s work: Nu dans un forêt (left) is far more complex than Nu jaune (right), and yet the latter sold for more than twice as much as the former.}
At this point, however, the prices on such works are ballooning well beyond the range of most collectors. The multiple silkscreens of Warhol, the etchings of Rembrandt, and particularly the linocuts of Picasso are beginning to reach dizzying new heights. How high is up? Especially when paintings by artists of a previous century, whose very innovations made Picasso’s (and ultimately Warhol’s) work possible, are more affordable?
Thanks to our commitment to and expertise with old and modern masterworks, we at Galerie Michael are constantly seeking top quality, well-valued Rembrandt etchings and Picasso linocuts to provide for our clients. But additionally, our sights are also set on artists and movements less well known to the general audience. For example, the painters of the mid-19th century Barbizon School, have become a preoccupation for us. You could call the Barbizonistes the missing link between Rembrandt and Picasso, as they were responsible for reviving interest in the landscape approach of Rembrandt and his 17th-century Dutch contemporaries – and by painting nature in nature, in the open air, with real light conditions, developed the primary tenets of Impressionism, which in turn led to post-Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism.
In their fresh, naturalistic approach to landscape and figure, the Barbizonistes were crucial to the emergence of modern art. They forged the ideal of direct observation – painting en plein air – that motivated Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, and even Van Gogh. Once more popular in America than the Impressionists, the Barbizonistes fell into a shadow here, but in Europe they never lost their cachet. New curiosity and new scholarship now reawaken a taste for the Barbizon painters’ sensitive, intimate, poignant depictions of rural life and natural light.
At this point, however, the prices on such works are ballooning well beyond the range of most collectors. The multiple silkscreens of Warhol, the etchings of Rembrandt, and particularly the linocuts of Picasso are beginning to reach dizzying new heights. How high is up? Especially when paintings by artists of a previous century, whose very innovations made Picasso’s (and ultimately Warhol’s) work possible, are more affordable?
Thanks to our commitment to and expertise with old and modern masterworks, we at Galerie Michael are constantly seeking top quality, well-valued Rembrandt etchings and Picasso linocuts to provide for our clients. But additionally, our sights are also set on artists and movements less well known to the general audience. For example, the painters of the mid-19th century Barbizon School, have become a preoccupation for us. You could call the Barbizonistes the missing link between Rembrandt and Picasso, as they were responsible for reviving interest in the landscape approach of Rembrandt and his 17th-century Dutch contemporaries – and by painting nature in nature, in the open air, with real light conditions, developed the primary tenets of Impressionism, which in turn led to post-Impressionism, Fauvism, and Cubism.
In their fresh, naturalistic approach to landscape and figure, the Barbizonistes were crucial to the emergence of modern art. They forged the ideal of direct observation – painting en plein air – that motivated Manet, Monet, Renoir, Cézanne, and even Van Gogh. Once more popular in America than the Impressionists, the Barbizonistes fell into a shadow here, but in Europe they never lost their cachet. New curiosity and new scholarship now reawaken a taste for the Barbizon painters’ sensitive, intimate, poignant depictions of rural life and natural light.
Both Narcisee Virgilo Diaz de la Pena and Pierre August Renoir began their lengthy and exalted careers humbly, painting on porcelain in factories. The two artists met in the late 1800's, and immediately took a great liking to each other. Diaz de la Pena was, by all accounts, a very kind and generous, amicable gentleman. When Renoir found himself in a financial bind, it was Diaz de la Pena who came to his aid and also became his confidante and advisor- a supporter of other artists, rather than a strict competitor. Now we see vast discrepancies in the prices being paid at auction for these two- in many ways similar- artists.
[Narcisse Diaz de la Pena, The Wedding Procession.
Sold at auction for $160,000 in 2000, setting the world record
for the highest price paid on works by this artist. ]
[Pierre Auguste Renoir, Au Moulin de la Galette, 1876.
Sold May 1990 at auction in New York for $78.1 million, setting
the world record for the highest price paid on works by this artist. ]
There is great Barbizon work in most of Europe’s – and for that matter America’s – leading museums. Remarkably, there is also great Barbizon work available for sale to even the beginning collector. Works by major Barbizon figures, and major paintings by artists once considered “lesser” but now being reconsidered in more favorable light, can be bought for considerably less than, say, the aforementioned Warhol prints.
Leon L’hermitte of the Barbizon school was one of Vincent van Gogh’s greatest influences, as illustrated and explained below.
Sold May 1990 at auction in New York for $78.1 million, setting
the world record for the highest price paid on works by this artist. ]
There is great Barbizon work in most of Europe’s – and for that matter America’s – leading museums. Remarkably, there is also great Barbizon work available for sale to even the beginning collector. Works by major Barbizon figures, and major paintings by artists once considered “lesser” but now being reconsidered in more favorable light, can be bought for considerably less than, say, the aforementioned Warhol prints.
Leon L’hermitte of the Barbizon school was one of Vincent van Gogh’s greatest influences, as illustrated and explained below.
[Leon Augustin L'hermitte, La Famille, 1908. Sold May 2000
at auction in New York for $941,000, setting the world record
for the highest price paid on works by this artist.]
Of Léon Lhermitte, Vincent Van Gogh wrote:
"He is the absolute master of the figure, he does what he likes with it—proceeding neither from the color nor the local tone but rather from the light—as Rembrandt did—there is an astonishing mastery in everything he does, above all excelling in modeling, he perfectly satisfies all that honesty demands.” Lhermitte’s innovative use of the then contemporary media of pastels won him the admiration of his contemporaries. Vincent van Gogh also wrote that “If every month Le Monde Illustré published one of his compositions...it would be a great pleasure for me to be able to follow it. It is certain that for years I have not seen anything as beautiful as this scene by Lhermitte...I am too preoccupied by L'hermitte this evening to be able to talk of other things.” It is remarkable then that an artist who who served as teacher and as inspiration then remains more affordable than his admirer, van Gogh. In addition, L'hermitte was recognized during his lifetime with two major awards- the French Legion of Honour (1884) and the Grand Prize at the Exposition Universelle (1889). Vincent van Gogh sold but one painting during his lifetime, to his brother Theo.
[Vincent van Gogh, Portrait du Dr. Gachet, 1890. Sold May 2000
at auction in New York for $82.5 million, setting the world record
for the highest price paid on works by this artist. .]
For the last 20 years Galerie Michael has been spearheading the renewed interest of collectors in Barbizon painting, and we are proud of our reputation as one of the most important sources for Barbizon painting in North America. Just as we do with our master print offerings, we scour private collections and out-of-the-way auction houses and work with great scholars on several continents to secure the best possible examples of Barbizon and related 19th century paintings. Similarly, we go to great effort to educate the public about this critically important but overlooked source of modern art. We want to share our buying acumen, abiding curiosity and growing enthusiasm not just with our clientele, but with an entire audience of new collectors. Works by the Barbizon painters still afford new and seasoned collectors alike the opportunity to acquire world-class art, comparable to what’s currently hanging in the permanent collections of some of the world’s finest museums, such as the Met, the Louvre, the Victoria & Albert, Washington’s National Gallery, even the Hermitage. Best of all, as noted, these masterpieces can still be purchased at prices lower than those for multiple edition prints by better known Moderns, including Warhol.
With its emphasis on great painterly skill and sensitivity to human as well as natural expression, Barbizon painting can touch the heart as readily as a good film. For that reason alone, it is a great place for beginning and seasoned collector alike to focus. And the price is right, too.
January 2008
