Art Benefits Leo’s Charity But Is Leo Good for Art?

Derek Blasberg covers Leonardo DiCaprio’s charity event in the South of France in Vanity Fair. The big earner at the event was the art auctioned to raise $30m for his climate-change and wildlife preservation organization:

• The majority of the sum came from a multi-lot auction that included gifted art works from Richard Prince, Damien Hirst, Jonas Wood, Cecily Brown, and Rudolf Stingel. A large work by Urs Fischer, who was in the crowd, sold for more than $2.5 million. A brief bidding war ensued between Harvey Weinsteinand DiCaprio over a large portrait of the actor in paint and crushed-up plates by Julian Schnabel. DiCaprio, who was on stage and teasing the producer to stop putting his hand up, finally banged the gavel on his winning bid of $400,000.

Clearly art does well for Leo but now that we’ve seen the Damien Hirst Len Blavatnik bought at an earlier edition of this event (three years ago) installed at the Faena development in Miami, a better question might be whether inclusion in these sales (for which the US artists get no more tax break than the cost of materials) is really a good move for the artists.

Stay to the end when Blasberg introduces Leo and Tracey Emin.

Inside Leonardo DiCaprio’s Exclusive Riviera Fund-Raiser (Vanity Fair)