Art Market Monitor

Global Coverage ~ Unique Analysis

  • AMMpro
  • AMM Fantasy Collecting Game
  • Podcast
  • Contact Us

Saltz: MoMA, Don’t Sell Monet for Koons Train!

January 14, 2015 by Marion Maneker

JEFF-KOONS-TRAIN-HIGH-LINE

Jerry Saltz came out against the Museum of Modern Art’s decision to sell its Monet painting of Poplars that museum claims does not fit in the collection because it pre-dates MoMA’s particular “story” of Modern art. Saltz rightly goes after this tenuous reasoning. A more likely explanation is that MoMA is looking to use the proceeds of the sale for other acquisitions.

Here Saltz makes a leap:

Making the sale all the more irritating, the market is now so distorted and tilted toward contemporary art that $14 million raised from the auction of a Monet is less than the cost of a large work by a contemporary art star like Gerhard Richter, Jeff Koons, Christopher Wool, Peter Doig, and many others. Some works are considerably more than that. Is it really worth trading a Monet for a slice of Koons’s hanging locomotive?

Did anyone say they were trading the Monet for a Koons let alone the hanging locomotive that was floated as project first for LACMA and then for the High Line?

MoMA’s Monet Fire Sale  (Vulture)

More from Art Market Monitor

  • Christie’s Breaks Out 19th Century SaleChristie’s Breaks Out 19th Century Sale
  • The Case of the BarnesThe Case of the Barnes
  • A View of the Market from the ProvincesA View of the Market from the Provinces
  • ‘I Can Sell It,’ Trophies & Savvy Market Making Lead Sotheby’s to Record $375m Sale
  • Saatchi in Hot PursuitSaatchi in Hot Pursuit
  • Chinese Buyers Take Over Diamond MarketChinese Buyers Take Over Diamond Market

Filed Under: General

About Marion Maneker

Want to get Art Market Monitor‘s posts sent to you in our email? Sign up below by clicking on the Subscribe button.

Top Posts

  • Keith Haring’s 1989 Retrospect Comes to Sotheby’s London Prints Sale
  • Tony Podesta's Secret Art Buying
  • Four of Picasso's Women Valued at $28m Come to Christie's from Rose-Walters Collection
  • Roy Lichtenstein’s Top Ten Auction Prices
  • Norman Rockwell's Not Gay. But Is He a Great Artist?
  • How to Chant Like an Auctioneer
  • Tracey Emin Neon Lights Up Sotheby's 'Contemporary Showcase' Pop-Up
  • David Hockney's $20m Pacific Coast Highway & Santa Monica
  • 14th-Century Painting to Sell at Auction Under Restitution Settlement with German-Jewish Art Historian’s Heir
  • Selection Bias In Art Is What Creates Value
  • About Us/ Contact
  • Podcast
  • AMMpro
  • Newsletter
  • FAQ

twitterfacebooksoundcloud
Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
California Privacy Rights
Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Advertise on Art Market Monitor