A small-town couple left behind a stolen painting worth over $100 million — and a big mystery

https://www.washingtonpost.com ^ | 8/3/18 | Antonia Farzan

[katana]

Thanks for the sarcasm tag. I got similarly reamed a few years ago when I innocently questioned the genius of Jackson Pollock. And no sarcasm was involved. Nothing is quite so effective at removing a sense of humor or tolerance as a degree in Art History.

[Tammy8]

That is what I think. I wonder if other art or maybe even artifacts have gone missing during their travels. They traveled a lot so that would be hard to track, but doubt they did another in the area where they lived. If they had it would seem the authorities would know by now.

It is indeed a mystery.

[BBell]

Who knows? There may be a book and movie about these two if it comes out that they were two average people, school system at that, who spent their summers jetting around the world pulling heists. It would make a good flick if it were true.

[BBell]

I remember reading something about Salvador Dalí, who apparently was a joker, signed blank canvases and paper when he was older and getting closer to death. He would sell them for as little as $15. He knew that after he died that folks would use the canvases and such to make forgeries. It was his final joke.

Don't know how true it is. Found this though:

How Salvador Dalí Accidentally Sabotaged His Own Market for Prints

[VietVet]

Looks more like some kind of alien insect to me.

[aomagrat]

160 million for the rag he used to clean his brushes? How much do his actual paintings go for?

[rlmorel]

Hehehe...it is posts like THAT which prompted my request to be added to your ping list...:)

[rlmorel]

I enjoyed the remake...Rene Russo was smoking hot in it...:)

[Kartographer]

"words fail me"

How about 'INSANE'?

[rlmorel]

My favorite story about Picasso (who apparently had great contempt for people who liked his art...):

---

Picasso was sunning himself on a beach, and a little kid came up to him with a magic marker and a sheet of paper and asked if he would draw something for him.

This was apparently a fairly common tactic by parents to try to get themselves a 'Picasso' and sure enough, when he looked up, he saw the guilty parents some distance away suddenly look away as they were spotted.

He then proceeded to draw a horse on the kid's bare back, and signed it. By all accounts, he enjoyed it immensely, and when telling the story, would surmise that the parents never gave the kid a bath for a long time after that!

[Kartographer]

""Who knows?" said Doc. "Who knows what lies deep in any man's mind? Who knows what any man wants?"
Steinbeck - Sweet Thursday

[Thumper1960]

You can like what you like. Or not. *I* don’t get the featured painting, but that’s me. Of course, if one can create something and have someone else willingly part with large piles of cash for it, all the more power to ya. Things are worth what someone, anyone, is willing to pay for it.

[Thumper1960]

LOL

Bump

[Republicanprofessor]

Amy Madigan was great in the movie; so was Ed Harris, and the time and care he spent on it. Great on the life of Pollock. I get more into the space and form of his paintings in my classes. What could be called art theory.

[Republicanprofessor]

Well, I still have a sense of humor, but I don’t have a PhD. (I have other art degrees, just not the PhD). Not sure about a sense of humor with many academics lately. I’m about to get out of the business.

[Windflier]

$160 million dollars for that piece of junk?

My kids did better artwork than that in kindergarten.

[Windflier]

...it helps to take a course in modern art to really understand it...

All of my leftist progressive relatives took political science courses in college. They think I'm dumb because I don't get Marxism.

I don't care what you study. That painting is not art.

[NorthMountain]

The painting is not to my taste

The painting is butt-ugly.

[NorthMountain]

t helps to take a course in modern art to really understand it

The more I understand that type painting, the more I find it repulsive.

[tbw2]

Why is Modern Art so Bad? by PragerU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNI07egoefc