Top Billionaire Art Collectors

Punta della Dogana in Venice

Despite one of the worst art market slumps in years, these individuals all have collections worth $700 million or more.

Suffering from one of its worst years in recent memory, the art world got a boost in June when French billionaire François Pinault opened his new modern art museum, the Punta della Dogana, in Venice’s former customs house at the entrance of the Grand Canal. In what some called the “Dogana effect,” the opening was also seen as having helped boost attendance at Art Basel, the respected contemporary art fair in Switzerland later that month. While sales for the toned-down fair are hard to come by, a record crowd of 61,000, including billionaires Mitchell Rales, Eli Broad and Roman Abramovich showed up at the event.

Dennis Hopper-on collecting art

Dennis Hopper - lover of art

I found this wonderful video of Dennis Hopper talking about the art that inspires him.  He gives a tour around his home explaining why he loves art, how he got into collecting art, and how surrounded by great contemporary art energizes him.

“I think that probably I collect things I wish I had made.”

“I started collecting in the ’50s, so for a lot of people who were going to the beach, going to tennis, and going to the mountain skiing, I was a gallery buff.”

“My idea of collecting is not going and buying bankable names, but buying people I believe really are contributing something to my artistic life.”

Art thieves steal from Kate Moss’s home

Thieves broke into supermodel Kate Moss’s home and stole three valuable artworks including an £80,000 portrait by Banksy.

It is thought that Moss, 36, her partner Jamie Hince, and her 59-year-old mother Linda were asleep in the house when the burglars struck.

Detectives believe they may have made their escape after being disturbed when either Moss, or Kills guitarist Hince, 42, woke up.

A 24-year-old man was arrested nearby in connection with the burglary and inquiries are ongoing, police said.

Spielberg’s film “Tintin” brings rise in Hergé Art

With the anticipated Stephen Spielberg Tintin film, illustrator Hergé is in demand.

Fans of Tintin, the Belgian comic-book boy detective, should flock to Paris or check out the website of Piasa auctioneers, which has assembled 230 items – original drawings, plates, first editions, rare objects and documents – for the “Hergé Sale” on Saturday.

Botticelli’s Venus and Mars -high on drugs

"Venus and Mars" Botticelli

The lovers in one of the National Gallery’s most famous paintings may be depicted experiencing the effects of a hallucinogenic drug, according to an art expert.

Lost Church painting is found!

"Evening on the Sea" Church

Cleaning of the 19th-century work revealed the clue that cracked the case.  Church’s seascape, Evening on the Sea (1877), had been exhibited at the Century Association in New York in March 1878, and at the National Academy of Design the following month. At the time, the work’s current whereabouts were unknown.

Why would someone steal art they cannot sell?

"The Pigeon with the Peas" Picasso

The Paris art world was in shock Thursday, after French authorities revealed that a lone thief had made off with $120 million worth of modern masterpieces, including works by Picasso and Matisse, in a daring nighttime heist at the capital’s Museum of Modern Art.

According to officials, the thief cut through a gate padlock and broke a window to gain access to the museum, all without alerting the security guards or triggering the museum’s alarm system. A security camera filmed the intruder making off with five paintings, but the works were only discovered missing during morning rounds just before 7 a.m. on May 20. The stolen paintings are all priceless works by some of art’s biggest names:  Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Modigliani, Leger.

Art. Gold. Investments are similar

The price of gold has increased significantly in recent times and is poised to increase even more over the coming months.  Although the art market is a unique market that appears to have very little in common with other investment markets, there are very important similarities when comparing the art market to other markets that usually turn out to be very useful. In fact, even analysing small differences between the art market and other markets can prove to be beneficial when assessing the art market as a whole or a particular sector/event. It is interesting and useful to make comparisons between what is happening in the art market, and what is happening with other investment markets.

On the rise: Asian art

RE Hartanto - "Post-North-Korea Nuclear Test #25"

At an April 5, 2010 Sotheby’s auction in Hong Kong a world record was set with the sale of a piece by Lee Man Fong for US$3,243,590. The significance of the record? It was the highest selling price for any Southeast Asian painting ever sold at an auction.

The high price of Lee’s painting, Bali Life, is an indicator of just how far Asian contemporary art, not just Chinese contemporary art, has come, and the potential it has to gain further recognition in a world with art giants from the West getting the majority of the attention.

But compare the US$3.2 million sale of Bali life with that of Beijing-based artist Zeng Fanzhi’s oil-on-canvas diptych Mask Series 1996 No. 6 that set the record for the most expensive contemporary Asian artwork ever sold at US$9.7 million at a Christie’s sale in 2008. It would appear that non-Chinese Asian art still has some way to go in achieving that kind of market value.

New Art Auctions site trying to help artists

GV Art Auctions is a site for artists to post/list their artwork completely for free.

Unlike other art sites, there is no registration fee, no membership fee, no listing fees.  GV Art Auctions was created by two artists in CT who own and operate an art gallery.  They hold show openings every three weeks.  They were getting such a overwhelmingly positive response from artists, that they decided to offer more options for artists to be able to sell their works.