Market Value
This will probably remind you of some popular crazy math riddles.
The blue color of the turban in the artwork Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer is made from lapis lazuli.
Théo Van Gogh, the brother of the famous Vincent Van Gogh, married Johanna Bonger in 1890.
It was the artist Dorothy Podber who fired a pistol at the four paintings of Marilyn Monroe that Andy Warhol had just painted.
How much is Mona Lisa, by the illustrious Leonardo da Vinci worth?
Your normal first reaction is obviously, what's the connection? Surprisingly, each event cited has a very significant impact on the value of the artworks of the artist concerned, which directly affects the value of the famous Mona Lisa of the great Leonardo.
The value of an artwork by a Grand Master is difficult to estimate. Especially since most of these artworks belong to museums. They are not for sale, have never been traded or have been traded a long time ago.
Normally, the notoriety of the artist, his career, the artwork itself, its artistic rendering, its position in the timeline of an artistic movement, its history and the anecdotes which concern it, its rarity. The general situation of the art market, fashion and trends. Comparison with similar artworks, analysis of recent major transactions and obviously the state of the economy at the time of the transaction, are all factors to consider.
To establish our Estimated Market Values we used the classification of the artworks established at a very reasonable market value of $1 billion for Mona Lisa, used every major transactions in history and calculated corresponding values.
For information for your curiosity, here are the 5 most important painting transactions in History.
- On November 5, 2017, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Mohamed ben Salman acquired for $450 million in an auction at Christie's in New York the famous painting “Salvator Mundi” (ranked 23rd) painted in 1492 by Leonardo da Vinci.
- In 1955, the Dutch painter Willem de Kooning painted “Interchange” (34th) which was sold for $300M in 2015.
- “When are you getting married?” » (31st) by Paul Gauguin painted in 1892 was sold to the government of Qatar for $300 million in 2015.
- The well-known Greek art collector George Embiricos in a private sale in 2011 sold to the princely family of Qatar the painting “The Card Players” (24th) by Paul Cézanne painted in 1893, for the handsome sum of $274 million .
- In 2022, the Christie’ auction house sold for $200 million the painting by the American painter Andy Warhol “Shot Sage Blue Marilyn” (70th) painted in 1964.
- For the record, in 1995, the French Treasury agreed to settle a debt of $667.77 million for inheritance rights from Sylvia Bataille-Lacan in exchange for the controversial painting by Gustave Courbet painted in 1866 “The Origin of the World” (62nd). As no money was exchanged, we do not consider the transaction, it is still a nice sum.