World’s Most Expensive Pic

D

d7e7r7

Executive Member
Joined
May 30, 2009
Messages
8,905
The below image sold at an auction for $4,338,500, making it the world’s most expensive photograph.
What makes it so special I have no idea... Perhaps someone could enlighten me as to what makes it worth what it sold for :confused:

Rhen-foto.jpg


Story: http://www.petapixel.com/2011/11/09...mail&utm_campaign=Feed:+PetaPixel+(PetaPixel)

:wtf:
 
MickeyD

MickeyD

RIP
Joined
Oct 4, 2010
Messages
139,117
Only picture of submarines racing?

Other than the straight lines, I'm also puzzled.
 
Sinbad

Sinbad

Honorary Master
Joined
Jun 5, 2006
Messages
81,152
Some people are idiots with no idea how to spend their money usefully?
 
K

kilobits

Executive Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
7,181
Actually... OP is correct... his IS the current most expensive photo.

This is Andreas Gursky's Rhein II, an 81- x 140-inch print of the famous German river. It went on sale at Christie's on Tuesday, smashing the previous record of $3.9 million for Cindy Sherman's Untitled #96 sold in May. Funny enough, Untitled #96 had itself displaced Gursky's earlier work, 99 Cent II Diptychon which sold for $3.35 million in 2006. Good to see that at least the high-end photography art market is weathering these economically turbulent times.
Click to expand...

I think I am about to overdose!
 
waynegohl

waynegohl

Ancient Astronaut
Joined
Nov 4, 2007
Messages
41,459
What makes pictures or paintings so sought after or expensive? Some look like kids scribbles and yet they fetch millions.
 
K

kilobits

Executive Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2007
Messages
7,181
d7e7r7 said:
The below image sold at an auction for $4,338,500, making it the world’s most expensive photograph.
What makes it so special I have no idea... Perhaps someone could enlighten me as to what makes it worth what it sold for :confused:

<snip>
Click to expand...

It probably has to do with the context in which it was originally created, the original artist's caché in the contemporary art market and the need of the buyers for some serious therapy. In "the art world" there are basically two "sects" really, one pursues self-expression / realisation the other commercial gain.

These works and these artists are only valued inside a very small circle and are traded therein as currency. There is only $$ value to them... they are devoid of any other value.
 
Creag

Creag

The Boar's Rock
Joined
May 19, 2009
Messages
43,527
Maybe the eye of this beholder is completely missing the point, but I wouldn't part with R5 for any of those pics :wtf:
 
S

Shayd

Expert Member
Joined
May 12, 2009
Messages
3,276
McT said:
Maybe the eye of this beholder is completely missing the point, but I wouldn't part with R5 for any of those pics :wtf:
Click to expand...

Me either. I got it on my phone now for a couple of bytes.

Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
 
OMB

OMB

Mountain Man
Joined
May 6, 2010
Messages
39,590
In a 2001 retrospective, New York's Museum of Modern Art called the artist's work, "a sophisticated art of unembellished observation. It is thanks to the artfulness of Gursky's fictions that we recognize his world as our own." Gursky’s style is enigmatic and deadpan. There is little to no explanation or manipulation on the works. His photography is straightforward.
Click to expand...

source

:wtf:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top