Klein
Rothko
Today my friend Tatiana and I met in midtown and went to Christie's Auction House. This pre-auction show was amazing. I've never seen that much art outside a major museum in my life. Another amazing thing was the estimated prices of the art. Forty million dollars for Yves Klein's "FC1" (Fire-color 1 painting, top). He took two models, covered their bodies with paint and had them press up against some cardboard. Then he took a blowtorch to the cardboard (briefly). The Rothko "Orange, Red, Yellow" (2nd painting above) is estimated to go for around $45 million. Sotheby's has Edvard Munch's "Scream" painting up for auction soon with an estimated final price of around $80-$100 million. How is this possible? The art world has truly gone mad.
We stopped for a coffee after dinner. Across the street I noticed this beggar was leaning against the deli asking passersby for change.