Everyone’s heard the age-old adage, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” Well, apparently those thousand words can end up being worth 120 million dollars. At an art auction this week, the famous painting titled “The Scream,” by Edvard Munch, was sold for $107 million (the price was estimated to be $119.9 million after auction fees and the like kicked in). $120 million. That number is ridiculously high. In fact, at this price tag, “The Scream” comes in as the 8th most expensive painting of all time.
Let’s put things into perspective here. At $120 million, this painting is worth more than double the record for largest Canadian jackpot ($54.3 million). Alexander Ovechkin, holding the NHL’s most lucrative contract at $123 million over 13 years, would basically have to not get any of his earnings taxed and spend no more than 2.4 per cent of what he earned in order to afford this painting at the end of his contract. With $120 million, you could buy 25 fully loaded Ferraris; several mansions; or as much chocolate milk as you want. For those of you who think a little more visually, check out this stack of $100 bills that add up to $100 million:
Image courtesy of KATR Inc.
So evidently, $100 million is a lot. $120 million is a lot more. $120 million is also a lot more than what I feel we should be spending on pieces of art. Are paintings a valuable part of society? Absolutely. I would even argue that art is a vital part of society. However, I think that we should prioritize first – there is so much more that the money could go towards. The number of schools that could be built; the number of clean water or housing projects that could be started; the amount of food that could be donated to food banks; it’s all astronomical, and personally, I think that we should be looking out for the basic needs of those around us before splurging on art, albeit renowned art. So next time, art collectors, how about spreading some of the love to those that actually need it?