I think when something/someone gets famous, valuable or prestigious beyond a certain level it's all mass hysteria. Art is especially vulnerable to this kind of thing.

NPR just did a podcast about Stradivarius violins. One just sold for $12m. There were pepsi challenge like experiments were players and instrument makers tried to pick the multi million dollar antiques from the crowd of regular high end ($10k+) violins. They couldn't.

There are parallels for wine and other things. Almost everyone has come and gone from the inner circles of the high-art gallery world seem to report how many emperors are wearing high heels and penis gourds.

I think this is easier for us to accept today than at any other time. We have a lot of 'famous for being famous' people today, so it's not hard to believe that it's possible.

That said, I quite like Andy Warhol.