Today's Evil Beet Gossip

Huge week in the art sales world, record set

It pains a lot of people to see individual works of art sell for insane amounts of money, when so many current artist still can’t afford rent, but that’s the game and when you play you know the rules.

This week Christies auctioned off Jeff Koon’s iconic “rabbit” sculpture.  The piece was made in 1986 when Jeff felt inspired by a childs toy.  Art dealer Bob Mnuchin, the father of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, made the winning bid for $91.1 million.  Making it the highest amount paid for work by a living artist.  Previously (as in just last year) that honor went to David Hockney who’s “Portrait of the artist” sold for just over $90m.

 In this file photo taken on May 3, 2019 a security guard stands next to Jeff Koons’ “Rabbit” (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) 

Also in art auctions this week was a massive sale for French impressionist Claude Monet’s work “Meules” or “haystacks” as it’s often called.  The painting sold for a whopping $110,075,000!! Cruh-ay.

And here’s the killer. The dude who sold it bought the masterpiece back in 1986 for $2.53m.  That’s a 4,300% return on his investment.  Fuck stocks. Buy art.