Art is a Racket

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4 pointsdtagames4 comments

"There’s a reason Vincent Van Gogh never sold a painting in his life."

Sorry, but didn't get passed the first blurb. Van Gogh's paintings sold in his lifetime. In fact his brother was an art dealer. [1] Starting with a common misconception that is easily disproven doesn't help the the article at all.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theo_van_Gogh_(art_dealer)

Not finding anything in the Wikipedia article, I did come across this post[0] from the museum which says he sold a few commissions and traded for others.

Of course, the point of my opening the story that way was to point out that Vincent did not and could not have survived on today's gallery system -- the same system that says his paintings are among the world's most valuable.

[0] https://www.vangoghmuseum.nl/en/art-and-stories/vincent-van-...

Thank you for that updated info! I do hope you might find something of value later on in the post.

The art market is indeed ridiculous. From stupidly overpriced works to stupidly under appreciated artists, it is genuinely a mess. Is it worse than other arts, music, acting, writing? I feel it is.

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