Talk about tiny details ...

[Guest]

there is an art industry designed to provide consumables for the mega rich. It’s an oft forgotten aspect of art. It is produced for a market, like any other construct. It is not created for the simple joy of creation, no matter how much we like to think it is.

And that is not new either. This little-known piece, for example:



was painted because the 16 people who are recognisably portrayed on it, paid 100 guilders each to the artist for the privilege.

[Tim Marlow]

Certainly isn’t…..Mozart produced pieces to order, very much like a cook in the employ of a prominent master……something that started to change as classical music moved from the Classical to the Romantic period. Tchaikovsky, for example, was patronised by a benefactor that he never met, which enabled him to compose without needing to earn money.

Rembrandt was masterful in his use of light and shadow wasn’t he….to bring this back to modelling, all you need to learn about shadows and highlights on figures is there in this painting!

[Gern]

I'm no fan of the art world as such, but what really upsets me about it is the pretentious twaddle that artists and their critics come up with to justify the creation of said piece of art - and hence the enormous price tag attached to it.

If the artist has a message, he should use suitable language to pass that message to his audience. Artists shouldn't write the b****y thing in ancient Sanskrit and then expect an Englishman to understand it. I don't see the message in 99.9% of all the 'art' I come across in my day to day existence.

If only art experts can understand the message, then they're the only ones who should be paying for it. Don't take my tax money and use it to buy and display stuff that will never have any meaning for me.

OK, so I'm a Philistine. So what? I still shouldn't be made to pay for stuff that I will never see or use.

[Gern]

Certainly isn’t…..Mozart produced pieces to order, very much like a cook in the employ of a prominent master……something that started to change as classical music moved from the Classical to the Romantic period. Tchaikovsky, for example, was patronised by a benefactor that he never met, which enabled him to compose without needing to earn money.

Rembrandt was masterful in his use of light and shadow wasn’t he….to bring this back to modelling, all you need to learn about shadows and highlights on figures is there in this painting!

Wasn't Tchaikovsky's music good enough for people to pay him for it - thereby enabling him to earn a living? If it wasn't, perhaps he should have picked another profession?

I agree that Rembrandt was a very skillful painter, and back in those times, a skillful artist was the only way you had to record images for posterity. But in this day and age, virtually anyone can get highly detailed images showing equally well how light and shadow work from their mobile phone. And an image created that way wouldn't be worth anything like the $900 000 price tag that's been given to Rembrandt's picture since its restoration. That's 10 times the value of the equally skillful pictures we started this thread with (OK. Different skills, but still requiring a great deal of expertise).

[Tim Marlow]

OK, so I'm a Philistine. So what? I still shouldn't be made to pay for stuff that I will never see or use.

Well, that’s gynaecology shut down then Dave :tongue-out3:

[Tim Marlow]

Wasn't Tchaikovsky's music good enough for people to pay him for it - thereby enabling him to earn a living? If it wasn't, perhaps he should have picked another profession?

I can see it now…Tchaikovsk’s first plumbing concerto for overflow and plug…..”they’ll still be admiring this bathroom in a hundred and fifty years” says Mrs Scroggins of 15 Sebastopol terrace….

Actually it reminds me of an old Tommy Cooper joke….
”I have a Rembrandt and a Stradivarius at home. They’re not worth much though. Stradivarius couldn’t paint and Rembrandt made bad violins”

Just remember there’s more to life than money Dave and you’ll do just fine :thumb2:

[Gern]

Just remember there’s more to life than money Dave and you’ll do just fine :thumb2:

You're absolutely right of course Tim. There's stocks and shares, bearer bonds, money orders, traveller's cheques, precious metals and gemstones, bullion and let's not forget investment in valuable pieces of art! And of course legal means of avoiding bills and taxes!

[Tim Marlow]

Yep, Monet doesn’t buy you happiness, but you can be miserable in comfort!

[Guest]

Monet doesn’t buy you happiness, but you can be miserable in comfort!

Looking at your painting, you mean?

(I’m wondering if you purposely said Monet or that you made the typo [ICODE]monet[/ICODE] and autocorrect capitalised it, as it did for me yesterday before I hand-corrected it to what I actually meant.)

[Tim Marlow]

Looking at your painting, you mean?

(I’m wondering if you purposely said Monet or that you made the typo [ICODE]monet[/ICODE] and autocorrect capitalised it, as it did for me yesterday before I hand-corrected it to what I actually meant.)

Definitely purposefully….as in Money buys you Monet, but doesn’t buy you happiness…..however, if you have that sort of money you can be miserable in comfort….

[AlanG]

Money buys you Monet, but doesn’t buy you happiness

I'd give the happiness bit a damn good go if i had a couple of hundred thou (or more) spare.

[yak face]

Thats absolutely mental ! Imagine paying 15000 quid for one and sneezing and losing it forever , and we complain about tiny bits of pe lost to the carpet monster !! On a side note , i once heard a brilliant take on Munchs ‘the scream ‘ , someone said maybe he just painted a really crap spaniel and when people started raving about the depiction of a tortured soul he just kept his mouth shut :smiling5::smiling5: ( look at it now and you cant unsee it:smiling5: - youre welcome )

[Tim Marlow]

Thats absolutely mental ! Imagine paying 15000 quid for one and sneezing and losing it forever , and we complain about tiny bits of pe lost to the carpet monster !! On a side note , i once heard a brilliant take on Munchs ‘the scream ‘ , someone said maybe he just painted a really crap spaniel and when people started raving about the depiction of a tortured soul he just kept his mouth shut :smiling5::smiling5: ( look at it now and you cant unsee it:smiling5: - youre welcome )

That crap spaniel holds the record for the highest auction price I think! 120 million dollars…..and it’s not even paint on canvas, it’s pastel on cardboard! If I had that sort of dosh to spend on a painting I’d rather have the cracked vase with the big daisies by Van Gogh.

[Gern]

That crap spaniel holds the record for the highest auction price I think! 120 million dollars…..and it’s not even paint on canvas, it’s pastel on cardboard! If I had that sort of dosh to spend on a painting I’d rather have the cracked vase with the big daisies by Van Gogh.

Methinks I'd rather have a garage full of luxury cars in every mansion I own, a superyacht or two, a couple of A 380s to take me and my entourage of gorgeous women anywhere in the world, and of course my own private island with VERY relaxed tax laws! Much more sensible - and with the added bonus I could get private viewings of any and every piece of art I'd ever want to look at with suitable contributions to the art world.

[Guest]

I'd give the happiness bit a damn good go if i had a couple of hundred thou (or more) spare.

“Money doesn’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you the things that give you happiness” —Johnny Depp (paraphrased, I think)

“I can understand wanting to have millions of dollars, there’s a certain freedom, meaningful freedom, that comes with that. But once you get much beyond that, I have to tell you, it’s the same hamburger.” —Bill Gates