Artelligence: Is Miró the New Picasso?

Artnet’s Rachel Corbett reports on the Inside the Modern Market panel at Artelligence last week with Helly Nahmad, Nick MacLean, Guy Bennett & Nick Acquavella:

“Miró is one of the most undervalued of the 20th century masters,” Nahmad proclaimed, reminding some listeners of the masterful Miró show he mounted in his booth at Art 39 Basel in 2008. “We have yet to see a $100 million Miró like we have with Picasso or Alberto Giacometti.” But that may change as well, he predicted. For one thing, the Tate Modern just closed an exhibition of 150 works by the Surrealist artist, his first major retrospective in 50 years, and it’s scheduled to travel to the U.S. next.

Miró’s later works have inspired renewed interest, Maclean said, because the supply has been so limited. “We haven’t seen Miró because great Miró hasn’t come up to the market,” added Nahmad. “People are forced to look at other works that are available.” This means that collectors who normally don’t want late-in-life paintings (many avant-garde artists are thought to fall off with age) are reconsidering. After all, according to Nahmad, cashing in on his famous name was “not the case with Miró,” adding that the artist’s late output, like Picasso’s, is considered to be some of his most mature and intellectual.

Finally, Acquavella added that Miró is particularly promising because his work appeals to those collectors with more contemporary sensibilities. “His use of collage can appeal to someone who likes Robert Rauschenberg or Jasper Johns,” he said. And his use of feathers, like in Spanish Dancer, 1928, reminded Acquavella of Damien Hirst’s butterfly collages.