Leonardo da Vinci Painting ‘Salvator Mundi’ Smashes Records With
$450.3 Million Sale
Nov. 16, 2017 12:01 a.m. ET
As of Wednesday
November 15, 2017, Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘Salvator Mundi’ became the most
expensive piece of artwork to ever be sold. The 500-year-old painting that depicts
Christ in flowing robes with his left hand holding a crystal orb, right hand
raised in blessing, and hair falling down to his shoulders framing his long
face sold for $450.3 million. Christie’s auction house in New York did not
reveal the winning bidder. The winning bid more than doubled Picasso’s ‘Women
of Algiers (Version O) that sold for $179.4 million roughly two years ago.
Christie’s auction house ensured
that auctioning of the painting was considered a blockbuster event. The auction
house exhibited the painting from Hong Kong, to London, and all the way to San
Francisco. All together, around 27,000 people visited the painting. Once at
Christie’s Rockefeller Center headquarters, they hung the painting at the end
of a dimly lit gallery and created a short film in which celebrities such as
Leonardo DiCaprio and Patti Smith stared at the painting in awe.
It was estimated that ‘Salvator
Mundi’ was originally around $100 million. However, billionaires from China,
Qatar, and beyond are competing to obtain these kinds of masterpieces simply
for the bragging rights. It is no surprise that with today’s trophy-hunting
atmospheres of the international art market, the painting was sold for an
impressively higher price.
At first thought, the selling of a
one of a kind masterpiece does not seem to fit the market rules as it was
auctioned off rather than simply put on sale. However, how could a $100 million
piece of artwork end up being marked up $350.3 million more? It was simply the marketing
that Christie’s auction house did. Having it tour the world sensationalized the
piece of artwork. Thousands of people witnessed the ‘Salvator Mundi’ and made
the auctioning of it into a major event. The demand for such pieces of work is
at a rise as the wealthiest people crave the exclusivity of owning a one of a
kind masterpiece.
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