Cl@ssmate

Series 9
28
Did you know?
Money is at the core of our day-to-day lives,
whether we like it or not. It is the means by which
we obtain basic needs such as food and shelter. Lots
of it can make us powerful, while having very little
can leave us weak and dependent. Money is even
central to the arts world as a source of inspiration,
motivation, the reward for being an artist.
Money as muse
The art of making money
Many artists throughout history have had very
successful and lucrative careers.
One of the most famous artists of all is Michelangelo
di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni, or Michelangelo, who
did very well during his life. Born in 1475, he served
several artistic apprenticeships in his home city of
Florence, Italy. He then left the city and began to
enjoy the patronage of many wealthy families, and was
commissioned to complete a range of works, including
the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.
In 2002, Rab Hatfield, a professor of art history
at Syracuse University in the US, estimated that
Michelangelo accumulated a fortune worth some
$60 million in today’s money.
More recently, the famous Spanish surrealist painter
Salvador Dali became rich and famous during his lifetime
(1904-1989). He was even accused by fellow artist Andre
Breton of being obsessed with money and fame. Breton
coined the nickname “Avida Dollars”, which means
“eager for dollars”, and is an anagram of Salvador Dali.
Despite all his efforts over his lifetime, Dali is believed to
have been defrauded out of much of his wealth.
Another artist of the 20th century to have done very
well during his lifetime was Pablo Picasso. At the time of
his death in 1973, his personal fortune was believed to
be about $60 million — not bad for a lifelong communist.
Some Australian artists have done well
during their lifetimes too. Pro Hart earned
enough to make a hobby of collecting Rolls
Royce cars and Picasso and Rembrandt
paintings, while Brett Whiteley also sold
successfully during his lifetime. Ken Done
has made tens of millions over the years
from his painting and business interests.
That’s what
I want: An
onlooker
admires Dollar
Sign, 1981 by
Andy Warhol
Respect for
money: A
self-portrait by
Andy Warhol
Making a splash: A
VW Beetle painted
by Broken Hill-based
artist Pro Hart
Artists are as vulnerable to the
glamorous lure of money as anyone, and
it has frequently inspired works of art in
a variety of mediums.
American pop artist Andy Warhol,
who was famous for his repetitive screen
printing images, had an enormous
respect for money as subject matter
and he made dozens of sketches of the
American dollar bill.
There are many plays, operas, ballets,
musical, films and pop songs that have
been inspired by the power of money.
Manon Lescaut, which began as a short
story by Abbe Prevost and was later
turned into an opera and a ballet, tells
the tragic story of an innocent young
girl who abandons the man she loves
because she is seduced by the prospect
of being rich yet she ends up dying
penniless in the arms of her lover.
The musical Cabaret, which
was made into a film in 1972
starring Liza Minnelli, is another
Poles apart: No. 5, 1948,
by abstract expressionist
artist Jackson Pollock
1� No.5, 1948, Jackson Pollock, sold in 2006 for $168.3m ($US140m).
Now worth $181.5m ($US149.6m)
2�Woman III, 1953, Willem de Kooning, sold in 2006 for $165.3m
($US137.5m). Now worth $178.3m ($US147.0m)
3�Portrait Of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907, Gustav Klimt, sold in 2006
for $162.2m ($US135m). Now worth $175.1m ($US144.4m)
4�Portrait Of Dr Gachet, 1890, Vincent van Gogh, sold in 1990
for $99.1m ($US82.5m). Now worth $164.9m ($US136.1m)
5�Bal Du Moulin De La Galette, 1876, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, sold
in 1990 for $93.9m ($US78.1m). Now worth $156.0m ($US128.8m)
6�Garcon A La Pipe, 1905, Pablo Picasso, sold in 2004 for
$150.8m ($US104.2m). Now worth $144.0m ($US118.9m)
7�Irises, 1889, Vincent van Gogh, sold in 1987 for $US53.9m.
Now worth $123.9m ($US102.3m)
8�Dora Maar Au Chat, 1941, Pablo Picasso, sold in 2006 for
$74m ($US95.2m). Now worth $123.3m ($US101.8m)
Flowering talent: Vincent van
Gogh’s Irises (formerly owned
by Australian Alan Bond) at the
Getty Centre in Los Angeles
9�Portrait Of Joseph Roulin, 1889, Vincent van Gogh, sold in 1989 for
$US58m. Now worth $122.2m ($US100.8m)
10�Portrait De L’artiste Sans Barbe, 1889, Vincent van Gogh, sold in
1998 for $121.5m ($US71.5m). Now worth $114.7m ($US94.6m)
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Top hits: Publicity poster for
the Swedish pop group ABBA
Rich with meaning: A detail from
Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel
example of a stage work that was heavily
influenced by the idea of cash and it
contains the song Money which opens
with the famous line “Money makes
the world go around”.
Swedish pop group ABBA recorded
the song Money, Money, Money in 1976,
three years after English rock band
Pink Floyd recorded the song Money,
which followed on from The Beatles’
1959 hit Money, which contained the line
“Give me money (that’s what I want)”.
Richest in history: British artist Damien Hirst stands in
front of his most valuable work called The Golden Calf
Rich man
Write of way
MONEY is so fundamental to human
existence that themes surrounding its
accumulation — or the lack of it — are
revisited time and again in literature.
Charles Dickens, for example, dealt
with the effects of poverty in novels
such as Oliver Twist and Hard Times,
while his work A Christmas Carol
warned against accumulating and
saving money for its own sake, with
the character Scrooge’s name now
a byword for meanness.
In more recent times, stories of
the rich and powerful dominate
popular literature, often making
Popular paintings
They might only be made from
canvas and paint, but some artworks
have the power to make people go
weak at the knees and open their
wallets wide.
This is a list of the paintings that
have sold for the largest amount
of money. Notice there are four
paintings by Vincent van Gogh in the
top 10, and the most recent painting
in the group was completed in 1953.
n Although Vincent van Gogh is
commonly believed to have cut off his
own ear in a fit of madness, this is now
thought to be a story put about by van
Gogh to keep his friend Paul Gauguin
out of trouble. The pair had a falling out
while living together in 1888 and it is now
believed that Gauguin cut off van Gogh’s
ear with a sword.
Family counts: Marlon Brando in the
film adaptation of The Godfather
It is believed that the richest artist ever is one from our own
era. He is a 44-year-old British artist called Damien Hirst. Last
year his manager Frank Dunphy claimed Hirst had a billiondollar fortune. It was definitely a good year for Hirst. In October
2008, despite the global financial crisis biting across the world,
especially in Britain and the US, a two-day auction of Hirst’s work
at Sotheby’s in London raised $215 million for the artist.
The most expensive work was The Golden Calf, which sold for
more than $20 million.
The revenue was more than 10 times that of the previous record
for an auction devoted to the work of a single artist. That was a
1993 auction of 88 pieces by Pablo Picasso, by Sotheby’s in New
York, which raised a relatively humble $22 million.
Haves and
have-nots:
Scrooge
from Charles
Dickens’ tale
A Christmas
Carol
their authors very rich. For example,
Mario Puzo’s The Godfather was a huge
success and finally allowed Puzo to
make money – a great deal of money
– from his writing.
The book and its sequels – and the
movie adaptations – dealt with Italian
Americans becoming very wealthy
through organised crime.
Puzo had been working as a
public servant and had five children
before he wrote the book and so had
been struggling financially. He was
determined to write a bestseller to get
his family out of their relatively poor
financial situation.
Paramount Pictures bought the
film rights to the book for $US80,000
(quite a sum of money 40 years ago)
three months before it was published
in 1969. Puzo wrote the script for the
movie, which along with its sequels and
the book, was a huge hit.
Music and money
Musicians own the rights to all their previous
recordings, and put together these become known as a
back catalogue. For some artists who have had long and
successful careers, such as the Rolling Stones, AC/DC,
Pink Floyd and Bob Dylan, back catalogues can be an
ongoing source of revenue because people keep buying
their music, playing it on radio and using it in films and
advertisement and so on decades after it was recorded.
Sometimes these rights can be sold. For example, the
rights to The Beatles’ back catalogue were bought by
Michael Jackson in 1985. And in 1997, David Bowie actually
sold his own “bonds” or shares in his back catalogue
meaning that royalties would then be shared among those
who owned the bonds rather than simply be received by
Bowie himself. He made $83 million out of the deal.
Revenue source: Singer
Michael Jackson bought
The Beatles back catalogue
Poor man
Although their work may be sold for
millions after their deaths, many of
history’s acclaimed and accomplished
artists lived and died in poverty.
Vincent van
Gogh: The
Dutchman began
painting in 1880,
at the age of 27.
In 1888 he had
a breakdown
and spent
long periods in
hospital battling
psychiatric
Needed support:
problems,
Vincent van Gogh
depending on his
brother for financial support. He shot
himself and died in 1891. Van Gogh only
sold one painting while he was alive.
Paul Gauguin:
Born in 1848,
Gauguin spent
his early adult
life in the French
merchant navy.
He began to paint
during the 1870s,
while working as
a stockbroker.
A French
stockmarket
Broke: Paul Gauguin crash in 1882
caused him
self-portrait
to lose his job
and although he was becoming an
accomplished painter, he struggled
financially. By the late 1890s he was
living in a hut in Tahiti where he died
broke and alone in 1903.
Caravaggio (real name
Michelangelo Merisi): The Italian
master was orphaned at the age of 11,
was apprenticed to a painter and left
for Rome by himself at the age of 21 in
1592. For years he struggled, before
he began
to enjoy
patronage
from senior
figures in
the church.
In 1606 he
killed a man
over a tennis
match dispute
Gambling his life away:
and spent
Caravaggio’s Cheats
the next few
years impoverished and on the run,
eventually dying of pneumonia in 1610.
Johannes
Vermeer:
The 17thcentury Dutch
painter also
struggled. He
inherited an
art dealership
and inn from
his father, but
focused his
Left enormous debts:
Vermeer’s View Of Delft attentions
on his
own work. When the French invaded
the Netherlands in 1672, economic
conditions deteriorated meaning he
was unable to sell paintings, either his
own or those of other artists. Vermeer
died in 1675, leaving his wife and 11
children with enormous debts.
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Rembrandt van Rijn: Referred to
as Rembrandt. Another 17th-century
Dutch painter who struggled. He
was popular during the early part of
his career and
sold his work
without too much
trouble. However,
changing
fashions meant
that Rembrandt
did not do so
well later in his
career. In 1658,
he was forced
Forced to live with
to sell his house
son: Rembrandt
and live with
his son and his
son’s girlfriend. He battled to keep the
creditors at bay until his death in 1669.
Cl@ssmate
n Despite the fact that Michelangelo
is believed to have accumulated a
$60 million fortune, he often claimed
to be poor in poetry. He also seemed to
resent being dependent on commissions
from a wealthy church for his work.
n The work of Salvador Dali was
already worth so much in his own
lifetime that some
people have alleged
that when he was
an old man, Dali was
forced to sign blank
canvasses. These were
then used by forgers
after his death. These
days, art dealers are
very wary of any works
Alleged
claimed to be produced
forgeries:
late in Dali’s career.
Salvador Dali
Supporting the arts
In Australia the government will often
help artists of all kinds in the form of
grants from the federally funded Australia
Council for the Arts or, in NSW, the statefunded body Arts NSW.
Another important source of funding for
the arts is from individuals. Many wealthy
individuals give large amounts of money
to help various arts companies, museums
and galleries.
But not just wealthy individuals.
Ordinary people will often donate whatever
they can afford to help particular projects.
For example, the Art Gallery of NSW spent
$16 million on Paul Cezanne’s landscape
Bords De La Marne last September.
To meet the cost, the Gallery received
donations ranging in size from $1 million
to as little as $50, all of which helped.
But corporate sponsorship is also
valuable to arts organisations. Prominent
corporate sponsorship includes Sony’s
sponsorship of the Sydney Opera House,
Audi’s sponsorship of the Sydney Theatre
Company and Optus’s sponsorship of the
Belvoir St Theatre.
Arts companies also build up
endowment funds through bequests left
in people’s wills. These are managed and
invested on the company’s behalf by a
board of trustees.
Find out more
Sources and further study:
Arts NSW www.arts.nsw.gov.au
Australia Council http://www.
australiacouncil.gov.au/
BBC World www.bbc.co.uk
Encyclopaedia Britannica
britannica.com
Editor: Troy Lennon
Writer: Chris Hook and Alex Lalak
Graphics: Paul Leigh and Will Pearce
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