Picasso's 'Boy With a Pipe' Sets Auction Record

Fox News ^ | 2004/05/06 | Fox

[Truth666]

NEW YORK — Pablo Picasso's 1905 painting "Boy with a Pipe" (search) sold for $104 million Wednesday at Sotheby's, shattering the record for an auctioned painting.
The total includes the auction price of $93 million plus the auction house's commission of about $11 million.
The previous record was set by Vincent van Gogh's 1890 "Portrait of Doctor Gachet," which was sold to a Japanese billionaire for $82.5 million in 1990 at Christie's. That price included the auction house's premium.
A 24-year-old Picasso painted "Boy with a Pipe" soon after settling in Montmartre, France. It depicts a young Parisian boy holding a pipe in his left hand and wearing a garland of flowers. John Hay and Betsey Whitney bought the painting in 1950 for $30,000.
Sotheby's called the work, which had a presale estimate of $70 million, "one of the most beautiful of the artist's Rose Period paintings and one of the most important early works by Pablo Picasso ever to appear on the market."
The previous highest-selling Picasso piece was "Woman with Crossed Arms," a Blue Period painting done in 1901 and 1902, which sold for more than $55 million in November 2000 at Christie's. It was the fifth-highest auction price paid for a work of art.

[Truth666]

This story is Front Page news everywhere in Europe. Plenty of images in every TV news wire. What do you think :
A - we are being told the true story.
B - this story is manufactured.
I go for B, and the goal is clear. The mechanisms of art auctions are well known, as well as the manufacturing of "genious" like Picasso or Wahrol, as part of an agenda of mind control.
This particular case has additionally something special. Can anyone also see it ?

[EggsAckley]

[EllaMinnow]

I can't see it...what?

[cyborg]

What a waste of money.

[Doctor Stochastic]

Ceci n'est pas un garçon avec une pipe.

[CaptainK]

I need an art history major to explain the big fuss. I don't quite understand the hysteria drummed up for this picture.

[jtminton]

11% commission ain't bad.

[4mycountry]

What a waste of money.

So if you had $104 mil to your name, you wouldn't just rush out and buy a painting? :)

[dighton]

Bilderbergers and Masons, under direction of a Nasty Little Clique™?

Congratulations all around. I'm trading up yachts with my cut.

[cyborg]

I'd buy Haiti instead :)

[cuz_it_aint_their_money]

"Yep, Stoned again!"
< /sarcasm>

[Reeses]

He's gay?

Gainsborough's now gay symbol "The Blue Boy"

[MeneMeneTekelUpharsin]

Now, Blue Boy is a beautiful painting. Gay symbol? Idiots.

[Aquinasfan]

The reason why modernist crap like Picasso's sells for a lot of money is because of speculation. Its intrinsic value is about $1.95. The Pieta, on the other hand, is priceless.

[Agnes Heep]

I don't see anything particularly meritorious in this painting that it would command such a price, other than the fact that it was done by Picasso. If it had been Picasso's chamber pot it probably would have done as well.

[Aquinasfan]

The reason why modernist crap like Picasso's sells for a lot of money is because of speculation.

You just don't want to be the last one left holding the bag.

[headsonpikes]

'Boy With a Pipe'

What's he smokin'?? - wait'll the Mods see this one!

[BlueLancer]

"Congratulations all around. I'm trading up yachts with my cut."

You must not have bought enough shares in the NLC ... I bought an island in the Caribbean with my cut.

And because I'm changing the name of the island, PROJECT BERMUDA TRIANGLE will be renamed PROJECT MØØSE ISLAND TRIANGLE.

(I've already cleared the name-change with the Unseen/Unknown Overlords ... so don't anybody go whining to the Naming Committee.)

[Reeses]

Beautiful painting ok, but you might want to avoid "The Blue Boy" disco or ocean cruise, etc.

[ErnBatavia]

You rang?