All language subtitles for The.Price.Of.Everything.2018.1080p.WEBRip.x264.AAC5.1-[YTS.MX]

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[soft orchestral music]

♪ ♪

- Ladies and gentlemen,

the auction will
begin shortly.

Please take your seats.

♪ ♪

- We'll start this one
at 180,000.

200,000, 220,000,
240,000, 260,000.

Now 260,000.

And we'll start at 350,000.
400,000, 450,000.

500,000, 650,000,
700,000.

Now 700,000, 750,000,
900,000, 950,000.

So where's the bidder?
$1 million

on the telephone here.
1,100,000...

- Art and money
have always gone

hand in hand.

- 1,200,000.

- It's very important
for good art

to be expensive.

- And 1,400,000, 1,500,000,
1,600,000, now 1,700,000.

Now it's $2 million.

- You only protect things
that are valuable.

- The fabulous Frank Stella.
- 2,200,000--

- If something has
no financial value,

people don't care.

- 3,800,000.
- $4 million.

- 4.8 million.
- 5 million.

- They will not give it
the necessary protection.

- Damien Hirst
at 9 million pounds.

We'll obviously get on quick.

$13 million,
$13,500,000,

- $15 million.

- Any more than $16 million?

$17 million.
17,500,000.

- At $80 million...

- The only way to make sure

that cultural artifacts survive

is for them to have
a commercial value.

- Andy Warhol "Liz #3"
at $21 million.

- Lot number 12
is the Jeff Koons.

- $35 million.
- Do I have 35?

35 I have.
41 million.

45 million.

The "Balloon Dog" sold
at 52 million.

- A masterpiece
by Jean-Michel Basquiat.

$98 million.
Last chance.

For $98 million.

Thank you, congratulations.

Thank you very much.

[applause]

[quirky orchestral music]

♪ ♪

- Uh, these are all
"Gazing Ball" paintings,

but they're being worked on and
I don't have the balls on...

- Right.
- Some of the--the paintings.

♪ ♪

This is a Giotto painting here
that we're working on.

John was just here,
uh, stenciling.

You know, it's not the exact
same size as the original,

but, you know, it's the idea
of this painting

that I've tried to capture.

- As a little boy,
you were determined

to be an artist, right?

- I always was.

From the age of, uh, three,

my parents kind of let me know

that, "Oh, oh, Jeff,
uh, that's kind of nice."

And that gave me
a sense of self.

- Yes.
- And, uh, you know,

from, you know,
the times that I was young,

I would win awards
for, uh, my artwork.

And at college,
I would always be showing

in the President's office.
And so--

- Really?
- Yeah.

- So some of your work
is sold for

as much as $50 million
at auction.

I mean, let's face it,
you're the most successful

artist today in the world.

- Uh, if that would
be the case, okay,

it's really quite, uh,
humbling, you know?

But, uh, the only thing that,
you know, I've thought about,

"Well, why do I make
the things that I make?"

And, you know, the only thing
I have are my interests.

[soft percussive music]

♪ ♪

- There's no question
Jeff Koons changed everything,

in terms of sculpture.

For example, the bunny.

You'd look at it,
and it was like Narcissus.

I mean, you look
into the water,

what do you see?

You see yourself.

And you see all of the excess.

You know, the wealth reflected

in a Hong Kong
inflatable bunny

that had been magically
turned into stainless steel.

And it was perfect.

♪ ♪

Great art changes
the way artists

perceive what
they should be doing.

It's not kind of
a single gimmick.

Because, you know,
a great gimmick is great

if it, like, takes you
from here to there,

if you own the gimmick.

If the gimmick owns you,
it's over.

♪ ♪

[birds chirping]

[Beethoven's
"String Quartet No. 11"]

♪ ♪

[insects droning]

- This is
James Fenimore Cooper country.

- It sure is.
- Beethoven's favorite author.

♪ ♪

- So, Larry?
- Yeah?

- How do you start to learn
how to see?

- You don't.
You don't.

You didn't decide
who your parents were.

It's the same thing.
- What do you mean?

- Well, you don't decide
certain things.

You don't decide--
you don't pick your parents,

and you don't pick who--
who you are.

- Was that what it was like
for you finding painting?

- Yeah, I think so.

I mean, I tried to--yeah.
I wanted to be an artist.

Now, an artist can be anything.

You know, uh, a poet.
A writer.

A singer.
You know, Hank Williams.

It's what--
you do what you can do.

- What's the relationship
between art and money?

- Art and money have
no intrinsic hookup at all.

It's not like sports.

Your batting average
is your batting average.

You know, that's--that's
the bottom line, you know?

Um, and they've tried to make
it much like that,

like the best artist
is the most expensive artist.

Same thing.
- Is that not true?

- How could it be true?

♪ ♪

- There's a lot of money
kicking around,

and there is a limit
to where you can put it.

[opera music]

To be an effective collector,

deep down,
you have to be shallow.

You have to be a decorator.

You want the thing
to work with the rugs,

and you want it to work
with the furniture.

And I notice different
styles of collecting.

There is the, uh, collector

that is the wolf
in sheep's clothing,

and then there's the sheep
in wolves' clothing.

And everybody
has their own style.

- Which are you?
- [laughs]

That's good.
I can switch, like the Donald.

[laughs]
It all depends.

- How do you get
this incredible collection?

I mean, what is it--
what was it in you?

- Okay, well,
back in the '70s,

Christie's had the Mondrian--

a beautiful, massive,
perfect Mondrian.

And I went to the auction
house, and I bid it.

I got it at 600,000,

which was the world record
for Mondrian.

And everybody wanted to know
who that schmuck was

from Chicago who overpaid
for that over-painted Mondrian.

And it put me on the map.
[soft laugh]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- New York still is,
in terms of the big auctions,

the center of the art market,

because big-ticket items
are always sold in New York.

But what has changed
is that the art market

has become totally global,
and now you have

collectors
in all parts of the world

buying art by artists
from all parts of the world.

♪ ♪

- There is no Golden Age
without gold.

[laughs]

So if you didn't have

100 times more collectors
than existed in the '70s,

you wouldn't have 1,000 times
more artists making art.

And you--
of course, it's a bubble.

And bubbles make
beautiful things,

and let's just try
to keep it floating.

Don't burst it.

♪ ♪

- Art fairs
are the main events

for the galleries
and the dealers.

Now you have quite a few
big fairs around the world.

Frieze that we are here for.

Frieze, London.

Art Basel in Basel, Hong Kong.

Miami.
You have Dubai, Istanbul.

I mean, I could go on and on.

Hey, hey, Neda, how are you?
- I wanna ask you something.

El Anatsui, I want to buy one.

- Yes, I love El Anatsui.
- Yeah, yeah.

- And African art
is going to go up and up,

and I--I look forward
to seeing it.

I've loved Anatsui
for quite a while.

[laughs]

- Wow, thanks!

- Who's it by?

- The unknown artist
called Basquiat.

He's one of the hottest things
in the art market

at the moment.

- Look at this single boob.
- Self-portrait.

- The uni--yeah, self-portrait.
Uniboob.

"Girl In Bed,"
that's the maquette for girl--

I've sold that painting twice.

- Have you bought
anything today?

- Yes.
- You bought some--

- A few pieces--yes.
- Wow.

- And I would like some more.
I want more.

- It was what?
- Always want more.

I would like some more.
A few more.

- Wow.
Alissa, who made this?

- Francesca DiMattio.
And only you get to touch.

- Only I get to touch?
- You get to do that.

- Has this piece sold?
- It is sold, Jerry.

- For about how much,
ballpark?

- About 50.
- $50,000.

My guess is she gets
50% of that?

- Absolutely, fair deal.

- [whistling]

- I don't see
too many artists here.

- Oh, artists shouldn't come
to art fairs.

Or they should, but they don't.

I wouldn't come to an art fair
if I didn't have to.

In my part of the jungle,
I'm mostly meeting people

who are interested in art.

Up in the higher reaches
of the treetops

there's a different ecosystem

where art absolutely
is an asset class.

That's essentially what
the auctions have become.

- Right.
- A trading house for assets.

[cell phone chiming]

Excuse me.
Hello?

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Okay, so this is a...

That looks good all by itself.

It's gonna be hard
to comp that, actually.

♪ ♪

- So this will be the catalog
for the Ames Collection.

Did you land that deal?
- Yeah, Steven and Ann Ames.

We don't get things
of this caliber very often,

so that makes it special.

There's also a lot at stake.

What's nice is everything
in this picture is actually

part of the sale, which is--
- Perfect.

- Does it make you anxious

when a big sale
like this happens?

- I'm usually very calm
on the day of a sale.

And it's not
the part I like the most.

- But your favorite part
is what, of the whole thing?

Of this specific thing?

- The chase and the deal,
probably.

That's definitely...

- [soft chuckle]
- Yeah.

Okay, Condo.

He's a super disciple
of Picasso,

so we're trying to
figure out how to comp it.

And the idea is you always
wanna comparative-image it

with something that becomes it
and something that...

- Elevates it.
- Elevates--yeah.

I don't wanna be--
it's sort of marketing,

but it's sort of art--
it's sort of

the art-history marketing part.

So getting
your comps right is--

it's a way you show
you're smart,

but you can't
be arrogant and cocky.

George is definitely an artist
who's a darling of the market.

[dramatic music]

- I don't really wanna know
100% what I'm gonna do

until it's done.

I just, like, add color
very gradually.

My favorite thing to do
is get to the edge.

- What was it that started you
in the very beginning

wanting to be an artist?

- Well, I wasn't good
at anything else.

[laughs]

And, I mean, I--

I could always draw better
than everybody else,

and so that was like,
"Whoa, look at that."

- Did your parents
support you in that?

- No.

- Your photographs of
your mother are unbelievable.

- Oh, my mother didn't
support me in anything.

[laughs]

- The money has never been
a motivation for me.

Oh, that's a no.
[laughs]

Especially coming from Nigeria,
the thing that really

did it for me
was thinking about urgency,

thinking of wanting
to be more visible.

♪ ♪

- You know, the market
is a sort of--

a separate sort of entity from
the actual creation of art.

It doesn't really
have anything to do with art.

It's, uh--it has to do with
something else.

And I'm not sure 100%
what it is, you know.

- I don't have all
the details in yet.

- Still being worked on?

- Yeah, but this
is actually a person

who has ruby-colored
pubic hair.

People come real close
to buying them,

and then they know what
it is and they go,

"Oh, I don't know."
[laughs]

- Really?

- I don't care
if they buy them.

I just needed to make them.

And my gallery would like it

if I made
much more sellable things.

- So talk to me a little bit
about the art market.

- [laughs]
It's too dangerous,

you know,
to even learn about it.

I don't wanna know.

♪ ♪

- I love artists,

but I don't know that

the marketplace loves artists.

And if we allow the marketplace
to determine what is good,

then there is no place for me.

[ripping]

- I always say to artists,

"Don't be an artist unless

you really, really, really,
really, really have to."

Because 99.999% of artists
don't have money.

It's that simple.

Artists have to make
an enemy of envy.

They must do this
or it will eat them alive.

[soft orchestral music]

♪ ♪

- People say that the bunny
is the most valuable

Jeff Koons in existence.

- Very likely.

- When we saw this,
I mean,

we really wanted
to have a "Rabbit."

But he only made three
plus the artist's proof.

And, of course, they were
gone immediately.

But, um, Stef always had
his eye on it,

and we had the opportunity--
when would you say?

'90-something?
- I bought it in 1991 for 945.

- 945,000?
- Yeah.

- And it was a time
that was--the market

was not really very strong,

and everybody was saying,
"Oh, you're crazy.

You're crazy paying
that much for it."

But Stef and I,
we just felt so right that

it was the right time to do it
and the right time to buy it,

and no matter what the value,
it was going to belong to us.

And that was what--
the most important thing.

- What--what would
it be worth now?

- $65 million.
- Yes, yes, yes.

So we snapped at it.
[laughs]

♪ ♪

- This is a Warhol skull.
- This is Warhol's "Skull."

So there are certain
code things that happen.

One, it has to be juicy.

You see the juice
that he had here?

And the other thing,
the direction of the skull

has to create a baby face.

See that profile
of the baby face?

That is the important part of--

- How do you find--I mean,
important, says who?

- Important to the art world,
to the values.

- To the--to your eye.
- To the feinschmeckers.

[laughs]

[insects buzzing]

- There are no rules about
what is gonna be good

and what is gonna be bad.

Art doesn't give a shit.

It never has.

[Bach's "Sinfonia"
from "BVW 42" playing]

♪ ♪

Why don't you go in first?
Show everybody, and...

♪ ♪

Just--follow Paula.
Yeah.

- [soft chuckle]
- It's good advice.

[chuckles]

♪ ♪

- Is this all one continuous
piece of canvas?

- Yeah, I've painted that way
since 1971.

Yeah.

I'm just working on this
basically the whole thing

all the time, and, you know,

putting stuff on.

And now we're painting this.
[chuckles]

Most people think
it's like putting makeup on.

You know,
you gotta be careful.

Get close to a Rembrandt,

and you see how quickly
things were done.

Flicks.
Flick, flick, flick.

Little flicks of color.

- So when I say to people,

"I wanna interview
Larry Poons."

- Mm-hmm.

- Some people say--

- Why the fuck you
want to do that?

Yeah.
- Well, what happened to him?

Where--where is he?
- Yeah, I know.

They think I'm dead.
Yeah.

They thought--
a lot of people have thought

I was dead for a long time.

You know.

It's not my fault.

My only defense
against fate is color.

[lively classical music]

♪ ♪

- All of these images that
are in this room, you know,

are connected to art history,
and they're created through

systems that I'm responsible
for each and every mark.

Having the correct
color there,

and everything numbered and
using the maps so that

when we look at this,
everything--

I'm completely responsible for.

- So it doesn't matter that
you don't physically

touch the canvas with a brush?

- Well, uh, I am, in a way,
physically doing it,

but it's physically
through all these systems.

But it's like articulating
your fingers and, you know,

your mind is telling
the finger to do this.

So at the end of the day,
that mark is as if

I would sit here
and do it myself.

Now, if I would do this,
the only thing

that I'd be able
to accomplish next year

would be just
creating this painting.

I wouldn't be able
to do anything else.

♪ ♪

- 8 to 12 million.

Okay, so this is a really
interesting picture.

This, we just hit it.
This is like a money shot.

When you have
the painting you're selling

and then
a picture of the artist

standing in front of
the painting.

- [laughs]
- Bill de Kooning, winner.

- Holy Grail of comps.
- Holy Grail of comps.

That's as good as it gets.

I don't like these comps.

Comp can't overwhelm the image.

Like this,
the fantastic Matisse.

Yeah, boy, you wanna know
what that would be worth today?

- Oh, my--yeah, what would
that be worth?

- Forget about it.

A couple hundo.
A lot.

- A couple hundred million?
- I'm thinking, yeah.

Yeah, definitely.
- Sure.

- Like, pricele--"priceless,"

and then you sort of
work backwards, so...

- Are there still
masterpieces being made today?

- Oh, I gotta believe.
I mean, yeah.

Yeah, I mean,
I have to believe there are.

I wouldn't even question that.
What kind of question is that?

It's like a--that's like,
"Do you believe in the future?"

That's what you just asked me.
Do you believe in the future?

No, done, we're done.
Let's just go. We're not--

Yeah, of course
I believe in the future.

Of course I believe great
things are being made today.

[cell phone chiming]
London calling.

This is the time of day
where London calls.

Hey, Alex.

How late can I call you?

[soft dramatic music]

- In the end
of the last century,

uh, we sat around at Christie's
trying to think what the hell

we were gonna do next,
because frankly...

[indistinct auctioneering]

Supply of old masterpieces
wasn't just limited.

It was diminishing.

And almost all our markets
and all our businesses

were getting smaller.

- ...million dollars.

- Thank you very much.

- With new collectors
coming into the market

trying to build collections,

younger people
enriched beyond imagination

with a thirst
for the new and the loud,

where were they gonna go?

[David Bowie's "Fashion"]

♪ ♪

In terms of contemporary art,

there was a lot of
production going on,

and the supply issue
wasn't gonna be a problem.

♪ ♪

You know, the supply
was almost infinite.

- ♪ I don't know its name ♪

♪ ♪

- I don't think anyone really
understood just how important,

um, contemporary art
was going to become.

But it would basically
overshadow almost all other

collecting areas
in the art market.

- ♪ Fashion!
Turn to the left ♪

♪ Fashion!
Turn to the right ♪

♪ Ooh, fashion! ♪

♪ We are the goon squad
and we're coming to town ♪

- The money is

an inevitable consequence

of demand and supply.

And so there's a temptation
for the artists

to overproduce and to push.

♪ ♪

- [vocalizing]

♪ Fashion ♪

♪ ♪

[vocalizing]

- My brain feels tapped out
since my last show.

Um, but I don't want to
just make an exact replica,

because it just
will be too boring.

So I tried to
change the colors,

but even that is not enough
to keep me engaged.

My production is very low.

Um, so, in a good year,
I make 12 works.

Um, in a year like this
where I just had a baby,

I might end up making
six to eight works.

If I'm thinking of wanting
these works to be seen,

there's a temptation
to get them out fast.

But if I speed up
the production of the work,

it will take away from
all that behind the scenes

that makes the work
as rich as it is.

- I'm thinking...

Big.
All right.

[Little Walter's
"You Better Watch Yourself"]

Ooh, forget how
these things break.

I throw these things
out like that.

♪ ♪

- ♪ You better
watch yourself ♪

♪ ♪

♪ You better watch yourself ♪

♪ 'Cause I've got
my eyes on you ♪

♪ ♪

♪ You can steal my love ♪
- He's very persistent.

- This particular fella?
- This guy.

He's always sort of there

as a kind of alter ego.

- There are people out there
who say, you know,

"Well, for the market,
it'd be better if George Condo

did a little less.
He does so much."

- I think that people say that
all the time to living artists.

"Oh, man, you know,
you're doing too much."

But, you know, if you think
about a guy like, you know,

whose work you really like,
you think,

"Are you--would it have been
great had Monet done, like,

3,000 less paintings?"
You know?

Or Picasso had done 500 less,
or...

You don't have to, like,
sell everything you do.

It's not about that.

It's just about making sure
that you never sort of

deprive yourself of
an inspiration as an artist.

- ♪ 'Cause I've got
my eyes on you ♪

♪ ♪

- Right now we have--
we have five Condos.

- You currently have five--
- Five Condos.

By having parameters,
my life is a lot easier.

- Which parameters?

- Well, 200 works,
40 artists.

- That's it?
- That's it.

- Arbitrary rule?
You just came up with it?

- No--well, yes,
it's sort of arbitrary,

but when I try--I mentioned
that to a very important

hedge fund guy about
five, six years ago, he smiled.

He hadn't been
doing any collecting

but is collecting now.

He says, "That's interesting.

My analysts can only follow
about 40 stocks."

And the other thing helps
is to know

what you really need
in a way, you know?

I needed these lemons,
I needed these birds,

because now if
I'm gonna do Rondinone,

I have to have
a little garden here.

And then the clown shoes,
I paid 270 for them.

I traded.
- How does that work?

- I exchanged it
for another work.

- You don't write checks?
- I try not to.

[laughs]
- So you don't use money?

- Usually an official exchange,
and it's all done,

uh, with paperwork.
- Hmm.

- You know, some people think
that, uh,

that Uncle Sam
is not getting his cut,

which is probably true.

But that's also true
in real estate.

And as long as the laws
are there to do it,

it's a good way to,
uh, build a collection.

That's the art of the deal.

Well, let's try what
happened in '16.

[mouse clicking]

Oh, oh, '16 was really busy.

Glenn Brown, Maurizio Cattelan,
Jeff Koons, Richard Prince.

All the usual suspects.

- What did you buy
from Jeff Koons?

- Jeff Koons was
the Courbet Sleep.

- Oh, the "Gazing Ball"?
- Yeah, the "Gazing Ball."

- What--what did
the "Gazing Ball" cost?

- That was--
they were $2 1/2 million.

They were modestly priced.

[quirky orchestral music]

- If you look here
at the "Gazing Ball,"

it's reflecting us
right now, right here.

So this is
the right here, right now.

Then there's, like, this
interface where

the painting is
reflected into the ball.

You kind of enter
into the painting,

then you go into
the realm of the eternal.

You go into this type
of connectivity of the past.

It's telling you everything
it can about where you are

in the universe
right at this moment.

It's generous.

And it comes back to how you
interact

with yourself and
how you interact with others.

It's all metaphor.
Metaphor.

Everything's metaphor.

♪ ♪

- Gazing is essential
in looking at visual art.

And the notion to have a ball
in the backyard that you can

gaze at--maybe smoke a pipe
and gazing at the ball--

is absolutely how
you enjoy art.

You gaze at it.

You can look at it,
but gazing is somehow

nobler than just gawking.

♪ ♪

This is the irony.

I can look at something
that's totally contemporary

and people
get ticked off because,

what am I looking at?

And that's a real question.
But never mind.

I have a Courbet.
[soft chuckle]

So I have the guilty pleasure
of enjoying something

which would be very mundane.

You know, a knockoff doesn't
get you a lot of credit

as an art collector,
because anybody can do that.

But put a gazing ball on it,
and presto.

[chuckles]

♪ ♪

- I don't like this man's
relentless and honest

and bold stare at me.

Someone said to me once,
you know,

"The work of art
is not the artist,

but the artist
is the work of art."

And that's
a very mystical saying,

but what I think that means
is only Rembrandt

could have made this picture.

This is an aged artist
who's showing us his flesh

and his world--worldly scars
and beatings he's taken,

not just as a person,
but as an artist.

It makes you think about
life in the raw, you know?

And I think that paintings,
when they're at their greatest,

are making demands on us

and it's easier for us
to just walk away.

Can you imagine what it would
be like to have this

in one's house and
how irradiated one would feel

as one sat down for breakfast

with the sports page
and Special K, you know?

It would just be a--such an
overpowering, sacred presence.

[somber piano music]

♪ ♪

I don't even,
um, try to contemplate

what these things
would be worth.

♪ ♪

The--the pricelessness that
makes for price in the world.

♪ ♪

This Vermeer, for example,
has got it all over,

every evaluation,
professorial or commercial,

that could ever be put upon it,

because it deals in
what used to be called

in times less defeated, uh,
than ours, "the soul."

♪ ♪

But it's a pie in the sky
to believe that this is

to be separated out from
a culture that values things,

that values materials,
and that even can put a value

on that which is immaterial,
like light itself.

[dramatic orchestral music]

♪ ♪

- I gotta think
about this really hard.

I think we're not making
virtue enough of the red.

So--
- Yeah.

We were playing around
with the idea of, like,

a shaft of light.

Something with, uh, how it's--
- Caravaggio-esque.

- Yeah.
- This is a masterpiece.

It could be sort of something
va-va-voom, sexy.

Richter's just got it.
We could just--

Everybody knows
this is greatness.

There's two
in this collection of,

I would say, equal caliber.

This is where Richter's
really like Rothko.

Because this one is, like,
exuberant and alive and sexy

and, like,
juicy and life-giving.

And then the other one
in this grouping,

which I'll find
in a moment...

Oh.
- Mm-hmm.

- I mean, this picture is,
like, so moody

and psychological.
- It is so dark.

- Like, it is such
an interior mental--

- Really dark.
- Well, this one is body.

The big red one is body.
And this one is soul.

So then that reminds me
of Rothko because Rothko has

paintings that are very
physical and bodily

and some that are more
psychological and soulful.

In his case,
it was a dark soul.

- Rothko?
- Yeah.

As are most people
who commit suicide

at one point or another.

Um, yeah, I mean, this--

living with a picture like this
could change your life,

if you let it.

- How could it
change your life?

- I mean, very few of us
live with such majesty.

Truly.

Gerhard Richter is probably

the greatest living
European artist.

I mean, these are very--
these are very, very important

pictures to come for sale.

- It's incredibly exciting
to have these two...

- It's cool, right?
- In the sale.

- We should invite him
to the sale.

- You should.
- Believe me, dude,

dude, he is not coming, okay?

Like, I'm sure of that, okay?
He's old guard.

He doesn't like
this sort of thing.

He doesn't like
the selling of his works.

This is the detail of
this Richter called "Ziege,"

which means goat.

That's the detail
of that painting,

and this is
a very famous painting

called "Police Gazette,"

which is
a de Kooning from 1955.

- Wasn't that de Kooning

in the Scull auction?
- Right.

A very important defining event
in the birth of

the contemporary art market
as we know it

was the Scull sale.

Robert Scull, who was

a player in
the New York art world

in the '60s and '70s--
he was sort of like

an original financier
in the art market--

decided to do a sale from his
collection of living artists.

- How are you, baby?
- All right, darling.

[both kiss]
- How's everything?

- Record numbers of
art dealers, collectors,

and connoisseurs filed
into the Parke-Bernet Gallery

for what was billed as
the most important auction

of post-World War II
American art,

all from the collection
of taxi fleet owner

Robert Scull
and his wife, Ethel.

- Robert Scull
was the personage,

and everybody
talked about him.

He was a guy that--
he was a bargain hunter,

that he wanted to
always bypass

the dealers and start doing

business with
the artists directly.

- I'm--I think it
would do some good, Leo.

I think it's going to be--
- Yes, sure.

- He was a rainmaker in
the art world, in that sense,

where people that respected him
decided that

if he liked something,
it was worth liking.

I mean, we're lemmings.
[laughs]

In the art world,
there's a lot of followers.

A few leaders
and a lot of followers.

And--which is okay
if you follow the right leader.

[laughs]

- When your husband would
come home with some of these,

uh, peculiar things,
didn't all your friends

laugh at you and think
you were crazy to have them?

- Yes, they--they
considered us freaks.

You know, we were
always pointed at.

The museum, at dinner parties.

You know, "Those two people,

they collect
that terrible art,"

you know,
and we just ignored them.

- Ownership is involvement.

Ownership is--
acquisition is involvement.

And with art,
it's probably the most, uh,

exciting kind of involvement.

Of course, owning a nice share
of IBM is an involvement too.

[indistinct chatter]

That Poons,
you've never seen it.

That Poons I bought,
I don't think you remember it.

Excuse me.

That Poons knocked me out.

I've never seen it stretched
since the--

I bought it.
- You're kidding.

- No.
- Oh.

- I had never been
to an art auction.

In fact,
I've only been to one,

which was the Scull auction.

I just couldn't believe this.

I mean, it was, uh--
the idea that

art was being put
on the auction block

like a piece of meat.

It was just
extraordinary to me.

I mean, this auction
had very high prices

for the first time
for contemporary art.

And I remember that
Rauschenberg was there.

Uh, and he, uh--
he was really incensed,

because the artists
got nothing out of this.

The artists got the $600 they
were paid in the first place.

It was totally p--
totally, totally,

totally pivotal moment.

Suddenly there was
the realization

because of the prices

that these works of art
by living artists got

that you could make money
by buying low and selling high.

[Stephen Emil Dudas and
Mark G. Hart's "All in Time"]

♪ ♪

- ♪ Reset your soul
remind your mind ♪

♪ ♪

♪ You just keep
searching for signs ♪

[indistinct auctioneering]

- ♪ You will find ♪

♪ All in time ♪

- $135,000...

$130,000.
Now 180.

At 180,000.

[gavel bangs]
Sold, 200,000...

[applause]

- I have been crying.

- Robert Rauschenberg.
Let's go.

- For Christ's sake, you
didn't even send me flowers.

- Send you flowers?
Nothing happened to you.

- Or something.
- Where, for what?

I should have anyway.
- There was a great markup.

- You're right, you're right,
you're right.

- I've been working my ass off
for you to make that profit?

- How about yours that
you're going to sell now?

I've been working for you too.
We work for each other.

- Okay, let's make a deal.
- Oh, stopped you cold.

[laughs]

- These are still around.
Jim Dine, di Suvero, Guston,

and Johns.

Franz Kline.
"Target."

There it is.
$125,000.

The surface is to die for,
because it has everything.

It has sprittzing.
It has all the collage stuff.

Very rich.
I bought it for ten.

- For 10 million in '97?
- Yeah.

- And what would this piece
be worth now?

- $100 million.

- Seems crazy amount of money.

- Seems like
a crazy amount of money.

- Do you think it's worth it?
- Well, let's see.

The stretcher is
probably worth 80 bucks.

[laughs]

And we have some
high-quality canvas.

I don't know about the cost
of the paints.

There's a lot of people that

know the price of everything
and the value of nothing.

[laughs]

So apply that.
[laughs]

Let's see, one of the early
purchases was an Oldenburg.

Poons.
Don't see much Poons anymore.

- What--what happened
to Poons?

- He slipped off.
He slipped off the ledge.

[laughs]

And just for whatever reason.

The art world is capricious

and not clear as to

what the reasons are for
some artists losing traction

and others, uh,
sailing into the sky.

[stapler clacks]

[dramatic string music]

[stapler clacking]

♪ ♪

- I was in that group.

My dot pictures were
in that group of the '60s

that were recognized.

You know, made me
one of the boys.

I mean, Jasper sold
his first paintings for about

what I was selling
my first paintings.

You know, $1,000
was big deal.

- You showed with
Leo Castelli, right?

And he was--
- Sure, sure.

I moved up
from the Green Gallery

to Leo Castelli's gallery
when the Green Gallery closed.

Sure.
- Mm-hmm.

- But then all this success,
all this, like, sameness

at the time finally began
to look like sameness.

I said to a guy in a gallery

when I had a show,
like, in the works,

I asked him,

"What do you think
I should do, you know?"

"You know, give me
some advice."

And what he said to me,
he didn't mean.

But what it meant to me,
I'll tell you.

He said to me, "Oh, you don't
have to worry about that.

You're Poons."

And that repelled me.

You see what I mean?

That to me meant,
"Oh, you mean I should just

paint the same way
I've been painting."

Yeah.

I--I didn't know what
I was looking for,

but I knew that
isn't what I wanted to be.

You know, I mean,
I--I wanted more.

You know, I wanted to be...

you know, Beethoven.

[Beethoven's
"String Quartet No. 10"]

The thing that
I'm certain of...

♪ ♪

I don't think
I'd be alive today

if I had gotten rich back then.

♪ ♪

- I love Larry Poons.

I got to sit next to him.

It was the opening
of the Frank Stella show

at the Whitney,
and he was one of my--

he was on one side of me.

And I said to him, I said,
"Oh, Larry Poons.

You were one of my favorite
painters for a while."

And he thought that was funny,
I guess.

He thought it was funny.

Most of the artists that
I've shown from the beginning

have gotten very expensive.

And there's a lot more money
in selling something

the second or third time,
usually, than the first time.

I sold my first Jeff Koons
at $700 to the Rubells.

- Tell me a little bit
about Jeff Koons.

- He's a wonderful guy.
Wonderful.

His studio was above
the old Barneys,

you know, on 17th and 7th.

It was amazing to go into this
room 'cause it was covered

with these plastic mirrors,
and then he had Velcro

and these inflatable toys
stuck to the mirrors.

And this is, like, 1978.

He starts talking to me like,
"Well, you know,

you have to have--
everything has to be new."

Like, you know, like,
when they have cereal,

they don't change the cereal.

They just put "new" on it.

So this is the new.

And it foreshadows a lot of
the whole thing about branding

and what people
attribute to Andy Warhol.

Jeff knew all of that
just by instinct.

- And he probably
would have created...

- Around '79, '80,
all these people

would say to me, "Hey,
have you met Jeff Koons?

You've gotta meet Jeff Koons.
He works on Wall Street."

Of course, Jeff was working
in a bucket shop,

like, out of
"The Wolf of Wall Street."

So someone told me the story
that one of the legends

of Wall Street
comes in one day,

and all the salesmen
are enthralled.

You know, "You're amazing."

And this guy says,
"You think I'm good?

Wait till you see
this guy, Koons."

- You mailed in my company
a postcard a few weeks back

requesting information
on penny stocks

that had huge upside potential
with very little--

- Jeff gets on the phone,

and they're listening to him.

- It is perhaps the best thing

I've seen in
the last six months.

- And everything stops,

and they watch Jeff Koons,

in one phone session,

go from getting the lead,
softening him up,

and closing it
in one conversation.

They were just in awe.
They'd never seen this before.

- How'd you fucking do that?

- This natural
American salesmanship

infuses everything he does.

- You know, the first time
we were asked to, um,

to guarantee
a Jeff Koons work,

they said, "Well, you know,
it's an addition of four

with an artist proof."
And I said, "What do you mean?

There are five
of these things?"

And surely that should reduce
the value of this work of art.

But, in fact,
it's completely the opposite.

I mean, actually made it more
desirable in the marketplace.

He was also the first artist
that I became aware of

that there was
a sort of futures market,

that he would sell you
something that he hadn't made

for three years' time,
at a price,

and then that--
that promise became traded.

[Beethoven's
"String Quartet No. 10"]

♪ ♪

- Blah, blah, blah, blah.

Let's go.

♪ ♪

So, what would you like
from me?

- Uh, really, for one, we just
wanted to show it to you.

Also just to find out,
is it a finished work of art?

- I didn't bother
to paint on it anymore,

and for some reason,
it was discarded.

- Hmm.

Well, I'm a huge fan
of your work,

particularly your
early minimal work,

so I was so excited
when I saw the picture.

It was only when
it arrived here that we thought

it wasn't quite right.

- You see, when I stopped
painting dots like that...

- Uh-huh.
- Or paintings like that,

you know, all my old friends,
they stopped talking to me

'cause I--I changed.

The only guy who stood up
was Frank Stella.

- Interesting.

- Yeah, he--he was all for it.
- Yeah.

It's pretty amazing how
art meant that much to people

in a way that I don't think
is the case today.

You never hear about--

- How do you mean,
"meant so much"?

- Well, the fact that artists
cared so much

about what they did
and what people are creating

that, if a style changed,
they would consider it

betrayal, and they would stop
talking to you, you know...

- Well, no, wait, wait,
it's a betrayal

of the career charisma.

"You're doing this for
a career, buddy," you know?

And that was easy,
you know, for me to deal with

because I wanted to be like

Mozart or Beethoven, you know?

The first piece ain't looking
like the last piece.

I didn't wanna paint like that,
you know, forever.

- Can I ask one request of you?
- Sure.

- Can I take
a picture with you?

- Sure.

- You are one of
my, uh, artistic heroes.

- Really?

But you said you only
like the early stuff.

- No, no, I like the early
stuff best because I just--

that's my aesthetic, but no,

I love your later paintings.
Absolutely.

- It's okay.
- No, I really do.

- That's all right.

- I also ride a motorcycle.
- Oh, yeah?

- So, um--
- What kind?

- Uh, it's a Yamaha Road Star.

It's 1700 CC, so yeah,
it's like a Harley wannabe.

- Right, how long
you been riding?

- Uh, since high school.
- Me too.

[motorcycle engine revving]

[answering machine beeps]

- Hi, Larry.
It's Dennis Yares.

Uh, could you give me a call
when you have the chance?

I'd like to set up a time
for me to come to the studio

so we can look
at the paintings

for the New York exhibition.

Take care, bye.
[answering machine beeps]

[classical string music]

- Larry has the capacity to
destroy his market constantly.

And he's very--he's, like,
a genius at that.

♪ ♪

And, of course,
you know Larry's deaf.

Occasionally, he remembers
to put in hearing aids;

usually not.

And I said,
"Well, Larry, I guess,

"you know, you can choose.

"You could be either
Beethoven or Goya.

They were both deaf."
[laughs]

And--and Larry's
been living on the edge

for I don't know how long.
Nothing's happening.

Nothing's happening,
and all of a sudden,

people are looking
for his paintings.

And it's kind of weird,
um, because you know

they do a calculation.
It's sick.

Uh, and the calculation is,
who's the most

undervalued painter?

'Cause it's
a stock market calculation.

It's a completely perverse, uh,
and upside-down art world.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[camera shutter clicks]

- These ones?

- So these--this was your
return to painting right here?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Absolutely.

- What about when these
paintings suddenly

come up at an auction,
and you see people--

- Yeah.

- Mm-hmm.

- Yeah.

Okay.

[stirring orchestral music]

♪ ♪

- Do you have any sense
of what value

you'll put on these?

- 20 to 30 million each.

- What is it that makes
a Gerhard Richter painting

worth 10 million, 20 million?

- Quality.
Rarity.

The confirmation and consensus
that that is

a particularly excellent work
by

curators, market people,
critics, et cetera.

I mean, there's a reasonable
consensus among varying people.

Listen, great things
tell you they're great.

I mean, when you see
something really great,

everybody knows it.

Even laypeople
can feel something.

- When you have
a picture like this--

- Yeah.
- Do you hope it finds

the world of somebody who will
be able to live up to that?

- I try not to get, like,
into that part of it,

'cause, like, I don't really...
- You can't decide.

There's some--
within your question is

a moral qualifier
about are good people--

are there good people
or bad people in the world,

and don't you hope
a good person gets this?

- I know what Richter wants.

I mean, there's what
he said he wants.

- He wants people who are
deeply moved by them

to live with them
and love them?

- He wants museums.
- Museums.

Oh.

I mean, museums are great.
We love them.

But they're also...

I mean, if they have too many,
they'll never come upstairs

and see the light of day.
So then it's like a cemetery.

Why do you want your things
in a cemetery?

You know, they're buried
underground somewhere.

So museums for him,
that's just

a very socialist democratic
way,

like, of avoiding...

having to deal with, like...

rich people who want them.

- What's the sort of
estimate for the total sale?

- Like, $100 million.

- And is the Ames
a large portion?

- No, no, that's the Ames.
- That's just the Ames?

- Yeah, the sale
will be much bigger than that.

[dramatic piano music]

♪ ♪

[elevator beeps]

- Oh, thanks.
- You're welcome.

♪ ♪

- I really resent that so much
of this work

wishes to define
all of life as

a glittering compromise
with commerce.

So, what is it?
A diamond from the sky?

♪ ♪

[distant sirens wailing]

The perfection of this
is what I resist.

The work is pristine,
but makes me think

it's made by someone who has
the grime of the newspaper--

the business section--
the, um, stock printouts, um,

on his fingers
and wears that as testimony to

his involvement in a real world
that I will never know.

It would be easy for me
to hurry back to Rembrandt

or Vermeer and
live in my pocket or pillow

of beautiful, invisible,
rarified self-reflection

and share that
with a few other souls,

but those days, this sculpture
wants to say, are over.

You know how it makes me feel?

I feel like I'm in one
of those old Ray Harryhausen

adventure movies from the '60s
like "Sinbad"

or "Jason and the Argonauts."

And I'm--I'm like Jason
and this is one of the beasts,

the sort of momentous mythical
creatures that

I've been called upon to slay.

But when the scene is over,
this thing gets

the star's bathrobe and
flies to its private island

and I, uh--

I'll go have a chicken sandwich
at my picnic table.

And I guess all I'm saying is,
uh, I surrender the keys,

but I don't give up.

[dramatic orchestral music]

♪ ♪

- What is fascinating is that
while the art market overall

goes up and will continue,
of course, to go up,

taste changes constantly.

Even the way we look
at old masters,

taste is constantly
evolving and moving on.

And I can definitely tell you
what we consider today

to be the most important
and the most expensive

will not be so considered
in 50 years from now.

♪ ♪

- I remember the first time
I saw one of

those extraordinary
formaldehyde pieces

of Damien Hirst.

It was the
Sensation exhibition.

♪ ♪

The Chris Ofili Virgin Mary,

the Marc Quinn
blood-filled head,

the Tracey Emin tent.

It was all about
a way of living now, you know,

and a confrontation
with death.

When this new category of art
was proposed to

the directors of Christie's,

there was a massive objection

from the people
who worked there.

And, in fact,
we were not allowed

to take the art into
the Christie's building.

[indistinct auctioneering]

- Well, art is provocative.
- It is provocative.

Should it always be?
- No.

- But it often is.

- Art is different, and, uh,

we all have different tastes.

And now it's, of course,
it's all about

conceptual art,
so this is conceptual art.

And sometimes it's provocative.
Sometimes it's beautiful.

Sometimes it's super dark.

A few of my friends
have this piece,

and of course,
in Russian tradition,

if a few people have it,
everyone else must have it too.

It's a very,
very popular piece.

Everyone loves it.

Shall we proceed?

So this is the first piece
we ever collected.

Damien Hirst.

My husband gave to me
for my birthday.

We were in Art Basel Miami,
and we came there

just to have a good time.

When we walked
through the fair,

I was completely bored.

And then I turned around
and there was, like,

a piece of, um, pink--

pink oval on the wall

with butterflies on it,
and it moved me so much.

So, so emotion.

And I said, like, "Wow."
That's how it started.

- And that was a Damien Hirst?
- That was a Damien Hirst.

I didn't know who it was.

- What moved you
about it so much?

- Colors.

It was just so
beautiful together.

I just--

- I bought this.
It was in Venice.

It was 5 million
when I bought it.

It's not worth that now.
Damien's prices have gone down.

But I really wanted one of
the pieces that he represented

as a breakthrough idea
of having an animal

in formaldehyde, which
is a big question mark.

Is it art?

But it's certainly fascinating,
and I'd seen

a couple of his works before.

It was all sealed in,
ready to go.

And there was snot coming out
of the nose of the sheep.

It was just dripping--
white stuff dripping out.

So I said, "Okay,
we'll have to unseal it."

We emptied halfway out
and we got it delivered here.

And then, for six months,
I was grooming that sheep.

It's now at four years
and nothing has come out,

so it's stable.

- It's done?
- No, it's done.

There's nothing really--
what you say--

conceptual about it.

I don't consider this
conceptual art.

It's--these are real objects

that you can relate to
as a real person.

This is a candle that you burn.

But once you start it,
you have to keep burning it.

But when it's all burned down,
you could recast it,

but it'd cost you money.

The first time
I saw candle figures,

I said, "This is stupid.
I mean, you know,

why would you destroy
your own art?"

This is another one.
- That's Fischer, too?

- That's Urs Fischer, yeah.

He built a whole house
of bread.

A full-sized house
made of loaves of bread.

- Mm-hmm.
- [laughs]

I don't know, is it art?

Go--ask me.
[laughs]

- Is it?
- Is it?

- Is it art?
- Well, it's not food.

[both laugh]

- When Pollock finished
his first drip painting,

he asked his wife,
"Is this a painting?"

He made something
that may not even fit

in the very large category
we call art.

He didn't know.

The interesting thing
about Pollock

is he only dripped
for about 48 months.

I would ask any artist,
any skeptic, any cynic,

if you invented fire,
which Pollock did,

are you strong enough
to stop making fire

and go back to Hell
48 months later,

go back to Hell and try to
make something new again?

How many people have done that?

Pollock tried to change.

By 1956, he wrapped himself
around a telephone pole

out on Springs, Long Island,

totally alcoholic in the car.

[Little Walter's "Sad Hours"]

♪ ♪

- You know, Keith Haring,
he asked me once,

"What's more important,
art or life?"

And I said,
"It's a hard question.

"I mean, you know,
we're in our 20s.

"At this age, I would say art,

because at least
it lives forever."

♪ ♪

These are oil sticks,
but they're not really

the kind of sticks that
Jean-Michel was working with.

- Basquiat?
- Yeah, Basquiat.

- How'd you meet him?

- Uh, when I first
got to New York,

the first guy I met
was Jean-Michel.

It's a real tragedy
that he died so young.

I love Jean-Michel's work,
and, uh--

and I really--
I really loved him.

The last time I saw him,
he was in a very negative,

kind of depressed mood,
and I said, "What's wrong?"

And he said, "I'm all washed up
in this town."

Like a kind of
Frank Sinatra line

or something,
and, uh, something

he would write on a painting.

And I said, "Why?

What are you
talking about, man?"

And he says, "Well,

nobody in this town
wants to show me."

And I said,
"What about Leo Castelli?"

I said, "You just--"
You know, he said, "No.

Leo doesn't wanna show me."

I said, "What about this guy?
What about that guy?"

And he said, "None of them want
to show my work anymore.

Nobody's interested
in showing my work."

I think that he felt
he was the token black guy

that came out and, you know,
was it really his art

they appreciated or was it
the sort of fact that he was

African-American
and that he had sort of

broken into the white system?

♪ ♪

You know, like,
that's the kind of subject

that takes you out of what
you're painting.

It's just gonna cause,
you know,

the painting to get
all screwed up.

[laughs]

♪ ♪

All right, you know what?

I've gotta get rid
of this entire section

of the painting now.

- So when you see
Jean-Michel's paintings

going last year for--
- Yeah.

When you see them
going for $50 million today,

it is sad.

The irony is that,
if he were around,

who knows if they would sell
for that kind of money.

♪ ♪

- I've really never made
any money until recently.

But I always got by.

If you have something to say,
it will be seen.

You just might not be alive.
That's the sucky part.

You might be old or dead.

And if you're female,
you're bound to be old.

Or dead.

[rousing orchestral music]

♪ ♪

- So, on that deal,
the client is interested

in taking it but wants
to improve the deal a little,

the economics of the deal.

Can you get it a little higher?

♪ ♪

- Do you have any sense of
who might buy these paintings?

- I think about who would
buy each of them.

If I didn't have people
in my mind,

I would be ill-suited
for this job.

So, you know, we have to
think about that all the time.

Like, how commercial is it?
Who's gonna buy it?

How--what are the factors
of getting

that person to buy something?

- I'm no longer buying
at auction, if I can help it.

- This is relatively new.
- I'm done.

Yeah, relatively new.
- It's relatively new.

He's in a phase.
- With exceptions, you know.

- He's in a phase, Stefan.

Okay, what do I love
in this sale?

I love--
that, for me, is stunning.

- Yeah...
- Stunning.

- Yeah, what
do you get for that?

- 20 to 30.
- Yeah, 20 to 30.

- Okay, now look
at this one, Stef.

This is a good little picture.

- Red is always good.
- Red.

- So the early rules:
red is better than brown,

brown pictures are unsalable,

and don't buy any pictures
with fish.

- Brown is hard.

Green is not always great.

de Koo--
this is de Kooney

in front of the painting
I'm selling.

- Ooh.

You don't have to be
an art collector

to be able to buy a de Kooney.

You look at this
and listen to her,

and pretty soon, you know,

"Okay,
that's something I can buy."

Whether you need it or like it,
it's a good investment.

And there's a lot of
investment buyers out there.

- A lot.
- A lot.

They have asset allocations,
stocks, bonds,

art, real estate...
- Right.

- That sort of stuff.
- There's a lot of people--

- But you know
why they're buying it.

Not because they
have a passion for de Kooney.

- Well, passion is, like, hard
to measure, always, you know...

- Oh, especially a lot
of them end up in storage.

- Oh, that's crime, of course.
We don't like that.

- I haven't seen
much Jeff Koons

in any of the shows this fall.

- The real estate people

started thinking of Jeff Koons
as lobby art.

- They did. I know.

I went to a meeting
the other day at Astor Place,

and there's the swan.

The red swan
is in the building.

- Yep.
- That was a kiss of death.

- And this guy--
and the guys in Florida

having the sitting ballerina.
- Yeah.

- Yeah, that really
is gonna hurt him.

- That's gonna hurt him.
Lobby art.

- Lobby art.
- Context is really key.

Like, if you see it
in a lobby,

it just kind of disappears.
- Yeah.

- And then you never get out of
the lobby once you're in there.

- Yeah, yeah.

[motorcycle engine revs]

[thunder rumbles]

- What was the first piece
that you fell in love with?

- Like, beyond something
I made as a child

that I loved, or, you know,
like, something that was

real art in that way?
- Yeah, that you saw, yeah.

- My hometown museum has
this Giacomo Balla painting

that's very famous.

And it's a dog--
a little kind of, like,

long-haired dachshund,
like, wagging it's tail

and, like, it's feet are going,
and a woman's dress is moving.

And it's that movement,

that very futurist movement
of Balla.

It's a famous picture.

Masterpiece, loved that.

I thought that was
just so amazing.

Want me to show you
a picture of it?

- Yeah.

- Super famous painting

at the Albright-Knox
in Buffalo, New York.

It's such a masterpiece.
I loved that painting.

Look at it, how great it is.

The dog's just magnificent.
I happen to love dogs.

I wanna-- I'm gonna
screen-capture this

so I can look at it
on bad days.

- It's great.
- When I'm having a shitty day,

I'm gonna look
at that painting.

That's great.

[thunder rumbling]

- I write about rich people.
I'm a journalist, okay?

And I write novels
and articles about rich people

all the time because
I find them fascinating.

They're incredibly insecure
and incredibly neurotic.

- Are you a rich person?

- I, um--
- Yes, you are.

- I--
- Yes, you are.

- Okay, I--
- Yes, you are.

- I live on Park Avenue
in Manhattan, okay?

I've been to
a lot of apartments.

There are apartments
on the sixth floor,

the eighth floor,
and the tenth floor

of certain buildings
that have the same piece

by the same artist
on the same wall.

I think that is a craven,
horrible, distasteful way

to enjoy art,
because everyone else has one,

and you get to buy one too.

- Could I just say something?
- Yeah.

- Just, I'm gonna interrupt
just for one second.

Okay, I think there's three
kinds of people in this world.

Those who see,

those who see
when they are shown,

and those who will never see.

This is a work
I want you to look at.

You're gonna die because
this is so Holly Peterson.

Okay, so this is an artist
you don't know.

Njideka Akunyili Crosby.

She makes these works
that are very similar

to Rauschenberg
in process and technique.

- Like Silly Putty.
- Yeah, exactly.

So on his body are
all these African women,

like brides standing
with the family--

- Oh, my God, wonderful.
- On his body.

And look at that hand on
his chest, how tender that is.

Can you stand that?
- Wonderful.

Maybe she's--loves him.

- Also he's in this kind of,

like, supine position, right?

With his back a little arched.

- No, it's totally beautiful.

I want it.
I want it for my wall.

- I think it's really
heartening to know that

the work is connecting
the way it does.

Um, where the anxiety comes in
or saying it's scary

that I'm getting
all this attention is,

how do I keep evolving
this work?

How do I keep changing it?

How do I not stagnate,
especially when you feel like,

"Ooh, I've stumbled onto
something pretty cushy.

"I could just cruise
and ride this out

for the next 20 years."

- Well, I think the art world
is a very brutal place,

especially for young artists.

I think it can
be really, really tough.

And when the market, you know--

sometimes people are
very seduced and they--

it just becomes about
production and the money.

And I think you have to know
that the work is gonna

continue on in spite
of all the noise around you.

This really rapid rise
in the art market is artificial

and can, of course,
you know, go away over time.

It's hard; it's really hard
to be an artist, I think.

- How do you stay sane
under that white heat?

- What is the white heat?

- When your paintings go for
a million dollars at auction.

[laughs]
And you're still alive.

That white heat is really
dangerous for artists.

It's hard, it burns people
out all the time.

Just made them crazy.

At least in my generation,
or the generation

that's going on right now.

You know,
there's major success.

Although Jeff
is right up there,

and he still makes great art.

It's really a long game.
It's a long-haul game.

[Saint-Saens' "Danse Macabre"]

♪ ♪

- It is only when you
go completely close up

that you actually realize
that it's painted.

I definitely feel that
Marilyn Minter is an artist

to go for if you like it,
because I don't think you

should ever buy something
that you don't personally like.

But there are plenty of people
who buy with their ears

instead of buying
with your eyes.

Of course, you ought to use

your ears a little bit
as well.

But, still,
do focus on your eyes.

♪ ♪

This is a key gentleman
in the art world,

Mr. Serge Tiroche.

He is focusing really
on global art.

- So just approximately
how many billions do you think

the art market is annually?

- 56 billion in the last
report, I believe, right?

- When I started
in the art market,

banks would not view, uh,
the art market as something

they would want to even
recommend to their clients.

Now it is automatically a part
of something they would speak

to their clients,
in terms of diversification.

- What--What makes
a Gerhard Richter so valuable

and, say, a Larry Poons
not so valuable?

Who decides?

- You know, the simple answer
would be supply and demand.

The real answer is,
uh, I think...

I don't know how
to put this elegantly.

Um, financial interests
of certain parties.

- [soft chuckle]

- No doubt.

There's an interest in keeping
prices at a certain level.

No doubt.
- Yeah.

It's--It's part of
the rules of the game.

♪ ♪

- Uh, well,
I started some time ago,

and the world of
art and commerce

was not nearly so complex
as it is now.

- How has it changed?

- Um, they are
like Siamese twins,

money and art right now.

And, uh, you cannot
separate them.

And so the purpose of art

has, um, morphed,

become perverted or mutated.

And I think art itself is

having a hard time finding
its way out of this situation.

Listen, I'm in
the middle of it,

and I'm busy
making money myself.

So I'm not criticizing;
I'm just

observing my own environment.

Um, I think we are...

Without doubt,
everybody knows it;

we're careening toward
some edge or some end.

- So the reckoning
hasn't begun?

- Uh, I'm not sure.

I think I can smell smoke.

♪ ♪

[indistinct radio chatter]

♪ ♪

[flushing]

- The reckoning has begun.

This is the end of empire.

- Italian artist
Maurizio Cattelan's

bold, irreverent work

skewers social complacencies

and reimagines cultural icons.

Cattelan's toilet
offers a wink

to the excesses
of the art market

but also evokes
the American dream

of opportunity for all,

its utility ultimately
reminding us

of the inescapable
physical realities

of our shared humanity.

♪ ♪

- Well, what can you think
of a golden toilet?

I mean, it's a--it's an insult.

And, I mean, Maurizio Cattelan
is a part of this world

of Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons,
of sensationalism,

and it's promoted, you know.

It's the fashion designers.
It's Prada.

Uh, it's Pignot.
It's Arno.

It's people who are
involved in luxury brands.

And that is what
contemporary art has become.

It is a luxury brand.

- Actually, the cost was 250.

Guess what.
I wrote a check.

No trade.
[laughs]

I just real--
[laughs]

- This is for
which piece, now?

- That was "Him."

- It's called "Him"?
- Yeah.

"Him," you know.

They always talked about "Him."

It's like, in Europe my mom
would never say cancer, Krebs.

It was C.

It's the polite way
to deal with it.

So he was known as "Him."

And we know
it's going to be a, um,

key work, without a doubt.

You know the recent
auction record on that?

- No, what is it?
- $17 million.

Maurizio Cattelan
is like Duchamp.

He's an important player
in the history of art.

Christie's displayed it.
They had him facing out.

I said, "No, that guy
has to face a wall."

You have to face reality.
- Hmm.

- And then I found
an old book from--

that my sister gave me
40 years ago.

It's called
"Psychopathia Sexualis."

[laughs]
By Krafft-Ebing.

So I figured that's--
that's what he's looking at.

I'm not sure that he had
a lot of sexual thoughts.

- Who?

- Him.

- And you hear--and you heard
him speak when you were--

- I heard him speak.
I was, uh--

he was
a very charismatic speaker.

He--he spoke
a little bit like Trump.

Without notes,

started very slow,
and built up.

- You left.
You escaped.

- We left, uh, legally,
April '41.

My mom was a widow.
I was 15.

I was a German national.

I still have
my German passport.

- You do?
- Oh, yes.

You wanna see it?
- Yeah, oh, yeah.

- It is expired.
[laughs]

- It's expired?
- Yes.

It does have a J on it.

Jew.
[laughs]

Stefan Theodore,
which is then Israel Edlis.

And I was a student.

And that's my picture
in 1938.

- What's it like
for a Jewish collector

to have this Cattelan?

- Well, this is the question
that's always been asked.

Uh, it's a, um--I think it's
a fair question.

It's also irrelevant.

Because art is art.

[distant birds calling]

[answering machine beeps]
- Hi, Larry.

It's Dennes Yares again.

I'd just like to set up a time
for me to come to the studio

so we can select paintings
for the New York exhibition.

Take care.
Bye.

[stereo clicks]

[Weber's
"Clarinet Concerto No. 1"]

♪ ♪

- He was a contemporary
of Beethoven's.

- Von Weber?
- Von Webern.

- Von Webern.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- Yeah, to me, that looks like
a finished painting.

They just
finish themselves off.

I can't imagine
anything I could do

except ruin it at this point.

[snickers]

Lunch time.
[laughs]

[pensive music]

♪ ♪

- I have not done
my best work.

I want to achieve that.

I want to create something
that's spectacular.

♪ ♪

I remember I was invited
to Sweden to meet a collector

to see if I had an idea for
a sculpture for their estate.

You know, and
a steam engine came to mind,

that I would have a large
crane, and then

hanging from the crane, uh,
I'd have a big steam engine.

And when a train functions,
there are pistons there.

So every time it comes in,
it's like a human being.

It's a metaphor.
[inhales sharply]

[exhales sharply]

[breathing sharply]

So it's what we do.
It's breathing.

But each time,
it's a puff of steam.

[puffing]

[breathing sharply]

And it would follow
this bell curve

and eventually be going faster
and faster and faster.

[mimics train whistle]

- What would it cost to do?

- Uh, I mean, I think that
I can make it anywhere between

25 to 50 million.
- Hm.

- But, uh, it's just
power and excitement.

Even--you're right
underneath the cow catcher.

The cow catcher's
30 feet off the ground,

so you can stand right
underneath it,

and you can yell, you know,
"Hey,

Mom, Dad, look at this,"
you know?

[stirring music]

♪ ♪

- Has Trump been good
for the art market?

I think there's been
a fairly good feeling

among the art collectors
this week.

Fundamentally, the underlying
opportunity here is that

there's just a lot of
really very wealthy people,

and they have a lot
of capital to deploy.

- Well, I think it's
definitely a robust market.

Definitely tremendous
depth of bidding,

particularly for masterpieces,
for contemporary works of art.

This is a very
attractive asset class.

- Are you getting
good stuff to sell?

- Yes, we're starting to see
artists who have very little

depth of trading,
very little traction,

selling for enormous prices
if there's confidence

in that artist's work.

♪ ♪

- It's totally amazing.

It's just extraordinary.

I spent about five days
researching her life,

and her mother died,
and what's going on in Nigeria,

and what's going on
with the Nigerian diaspora

in this country,
and I like supporting women.

Recently, I sold some things,
and now I have a little excess,

and I'd like to
take that excess

and buy this very, very much.

- Your limit is the estimate,
of around $300,000?

- I'm gonna try.

I mean, I think
the gallery's nervous.

They're concerned because
there's 12 people who want it.

And once you're playing with
sharks,

it's just--it's
a whole different ballgame.

You know what
they say about sharks?

They have to keep moving,
or they die, right?

And I'm not gonna
play that game.

'Cause I don't want to
really be a part of

the kind of jerk who, like,

goes so high and kind of
outprices the artist

and contributes potentially to

a crash-and-burn situation
for that artist.

[pensive music]

♪ ♪

- This show that's coming up
is wonderful.

You've waited, in a way,
a long time for that.

- No, I haven't waited for it.

♪ ♪

[door buzzing]

♪ ♪

[lock buzzing]

[stapler clacks]

[knocking on door]

- Hello.
- How are you?

- Dennis?
- Yes.

Hey, good to see you.

I was looking for this one--
this one.

Is this here?

- Uh, yes, everything's here.

- 'Cause this is the other one

I really like,
too, for the show.

This is--I love this one.
- Okay.

Images from the same one--
- But this one--

This one I really like, Larry.

- How soon do we need
to have them chosen?

- Right--well, today.
- Okay, let's do it today.

- Oh, yeah, that's gorgeous.

- Isn't it great?
- It's gorgeous, gorgeous.

Gorgeous.

What do you think?
Oh, I love it.

- Oh, yeah?
- Just like this.

- Okay.
- Mm-hmm.

Maybe the square one.

- Can we get--
- The square one's a show-off.

- Then why don't we include
this for the show?

That one, and then we'll look
at the whole mix.

It doesn't mean we
have to install all of them.

- Right. Okay.
- We can have it on hand.

- New York's gotta see it.
- New York's gonna see it.

That's why we're here.
[chuckles]

If you look historically,
this dialogue between

artist and dealer
brings to life the art.

And unless you have
that right mix,

you can be forgotten.

It's no different from
a great pianist playing

with the right orchestra
under the right conductor.

And sometimes
you just miss it.

He just kind of missed,
but not anymore.

He's found.
[laughs]

- Cool, just again...
- Love it.

- Yeah.
Let's go eat.

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

- So I'm resting my head.
It's, like, a way of relaxing.

- Stressed?
- No, just tired.

I'm not really stressed.

It's gonna--
it'll be a good sale.

♪ ♪

They're gone?

Can I--want me to--
oh, they're taking it down now?

That's it?

Bye.
Look it.

There it is, 653-1,
Richter 1988.

Just off the wall here.

♪ ♪

- And there's a lonely,
lonely woman, yeah.

- De Kooning.
"Woman in Landscape."

- Is that what it is?
- 1968, yep.

- Where's the woman,
where's the landscape?

- I'll tell you--
I'll give you a hint.

That little green
in the corner,

that's the landscape, okay?

Bye.

Bye!

♪ ♪

- Oh, auctions, auctions,
auctions make me sick,

only because what I'm doing
in those showrooms is saying

good-bye for the rest
of my life

to every work of art
I'm seeing,

because all of it
is now too expensive

for any institution to buy,
except maybe the Getty,

and they can only buy
one thing a year.

I kind of wish that
collectors would give back,

but I don't know that
I would give back.

So it's gonna hang
in some apartment

in London or Shanghai
or New York,

and I won't see it again
for my natural life.

[soft dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Good evening,
ladies and gentlemen,

and a very warm welcome
to Sotheby's.

My name is Oliver Barker,
and I'm delighted to be

your auctioneer for tonight's
sale of contemporary art.

And we start with
our great privilege,

with the triumph of painting,

the Steven and Ann Ames
collection.

And we'll start with
this evening's George Condo,

"The Woman on Brown Chair"
from 2007.

I'm gonna start the bidding
at 300,000.

350,000, 400,000.
George O'Dell at 600,000.

650,000, 700,000.

800,000 in a new place.

It's your bid, sir.
Thank you.

And we'll move on to the
"Woman Landscape," $1 million.

1,100,000, 1,300,000 now.

1,500,000, 1,800,000,

2,350,000.
Lot number six.

Gerhard Richter paintings,
the "A B, St James."

And I'm gonna start the bidding
here at $16 million.

17 million, $18 million,
19 million now.

$20 million now,
fair warning.

[gavel bangs]
It's yours, sir.

Thank you very much indeed.

We go on to lot number 30,

the wonderful
"A B, Still" painting.

Start the bidding here
at $14 million.

$15 million, $16 million,
$17, $18 million,

$20 million here,
$21 million,

$22 million now,
$23 million,

$24 million,
$25 million,

25,500,000, 26,500,000.
$27 million.

27,500,000, $29 million,
$29,500,000.

$30 million now.
Fair warning now.

The very last sign
at $30 million.

Sold to you, Galas.
Thank you very much indeed.

And we have the Crosby here
from 2012, the "DROWN."

And I'll start at 100,000,
120,000, 150,000

180,000, 200,000--
Thank you, Amy.

250,000, 300,000,
350,000 now.

At 350,000.
Try 4, sir.

400,000.

♪ ♪

Amy, against you now.

400,000, Leslie's now.
At 400,000, 450,000,

500,000, 550,000.
So your bid, madam, is 600,000.

650,000.

700,000 now.
750,000.

800,000 now.

850,000.
There it is at 850.

It's 850,000.
900,000 now.

At $900,000.

It's with Alex at the desk,

and I'm gonna sell it
this time.

Fair warning, at $900,000.

Thank you, Alex. L0075.
[applause]

And thank you, Amy,
to your bidder as well.

Thank you very much indeed.

[applause]

- Hmm.

[exhales, soft laugh]

"DROWN" was sold at a show
from a few years ago,

and the person who
bought it resold it.

- They brought it to auction?
- They brought it to auction.

Um--
- They flipped it, basically.

- Yeah.
- Is that--

That's what happened?
- That's what happened.

- I see.
- Yeah.

- You, so--
- [laughs]

- So a flipper bought it.
- A flipper bought it.

When I'm just thinking of

what success means for me...
- Yes, yes?

- I'm very interested in
the long term.

Um, so it's not about
making a lot of money

in the next five years

and buying
a beautiful house in LA,

although that would be good,

but that's not
my driving force.

I'm very--because it's--
I keep thinking long term,

long term, long term.

Um, what matters
in the long term?

The institutions you get into,
the shows you get into.

- So you want your work
in museums?

- Yeah, museums are,
for a lack of a better word,

the gatekeepers of culture,
to some extent.

I mean, you walk into--
once you cross that threshold

of the door,
you're walking in,

and in your mind,
you're thinking,

"These are works that matter."

Not just for our generation,
but for future generations.

So maybe things happen
and I fall out of favor

in a number of years.

It'll go into storage.

But someday,
maybe in 50 years,

maybe in 70, maybe in 150,

it could come out.

It doesn't just vanish.

[soft music]

- Now to a landmark donation

for the Art Institute
of Chicago.

The museum says

it's the largest gift
in its history.

42 iconic pieces
of contemporary art.

It's estimated to be worth
about $400 million.

The gift includes nine works
by Andy Warhol,

including "Twelve Jackies,"
"Flowers," and "Liz #3."

The President of the Art
Institute said in a statement,

"We are so grateful
to Stefan and Gael

"for the extraordinary gift.

"It allows us to build
one of the richest narratives

of art under one roof."

♪ ♪

[loud beep]

- Oh, too close, too close.

It's so beautiful,
this sculpture.

The heart shape
that it makes.

[loud beep]

[beeping]

- You have to come close
to see the glitter.

There's glitter in there.

- You've given this incredible
gift to the museum.

Why?

- Well, the simple answer is
no grandkids.

We had had conversations
with the museum, and I said,

"You know, I'm gonna give you
a picture, and it's gonna

end up in storage.
That's not good enough."

So they said, "We're gonna
clean our existing gallery,

"and it'll stay up like
you want for 25 years

"in the gallery, and
another 25 years mixed up,

but still up."

- Seeing it here today,
do you miss it at home?

- All our walls are full.

[both laughing]

No more room at the inn.
- No, it's nice to see it--

- No, we'll make sure
that we don't miss it.

If we really miss it,
we can come down

and have another look.

- Now, tell me about the Liz.

- That's the only
partial gift.

Well, I gave the Liz
at 10%

because I just got it.

I'd like to live with it.

You can have it
for six months,

I'll have it for the rest.

Meanwhile, get me a poster,
get me something.

And then Gael came back
with an exact copy,

including the wrinkles
in the canvas.

[laughs]

So we're happy with the copy.

Let them have the real stuff.

It's amazing
what technology can do now.

- Doesn't this raise a little
bit of a question, though, too,

about even, what is--
what is a piece of art

if it is reproducible
like that?

- You're--absolutely, you put
your finger in the wound.

That's it.
What is a piece of art?

Absolu--that's a question.
I can't answer it,

but I will--
I certainly agree with you.

♪ ♪

Looks good there, doesn't it?

Makes you feel like
you've done something.

Everybody would like
to think, in life,

that they've done something.

♪ ♪

- I'm sad that too much
of their conversation

has been about the money,

the shiny thing
that's easiest to talk about,

but nobody's
thinking about that.

Except you.
Not you.

The collective you.

So you can hate us.

Everybody should
make fun of the art world.

Is it absurd?

Yes.
Is it necessary?

Probably no more necessary
than religion, I would argue.

You need to eat.
You need not to be killed.

You need to have
some measure of freedom.

So I'm not here to tell you
art matters more than freedom,

but I am here to say that
art is part of being alive

as much as Mozart is.

[strumming guitar]

- It's called "Pictures
From Life's Other Side."

♪ In the world's mighty gallery
of pictures ♪

♪ Hang the scenes
that are painted from life ♪

♪ There hang scenes
of love and of passion ♪

♪ There hang pictures
of peace and of strife ♪

♪ Pictures of love
and of beauty ♪

[orchestra accompanies]

♪ Of old age and
the blushing young bride ♪

♪ They all hang on the wall
but the saddest of all ♪

♪ Are the pictures
from life's other side ♪

♪ There's the picture
from life's other side ♪

♪ Someone has fell
by the way ♪

♪ Life has gone out
with the tide ♪

♪ That might have been
happy someday ♪

♪ It's a pearl old mother
at home ♪

♪ She's watching
and waitin' alone ♪

♪ Just longing to hear
from a loved one so dear ♪

♪ Just a picture
from life's other side ♪

Hey.
- Hi.

- Nice to see you again.

♪ ♪

Hi.
- So great.

- Really good.
Really.

- It's a magnificent color.

- The paintings
are incredible.

- Eh, thank you.
- Yeah.

- Beautiful stuff, thanks.
- Hey, thank you.

- Thanks a lot, man.
- I love this new work.

The color's incredible.

- You are incredible.
Never change.

- Thank you.
- It's wonderful.

♪ ♪

- It's--it's the paintings
that motivate everything.

[stirring orchestral music]

♪ ♪

[Little Walter's
"Off the Wall"]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

[beeping]

- At 400 million,

Leonardo's "Salvator Mundi"
selling here at Christie's.

$400 million is the bid.

And the piece is sold.
[gavel bangs]

[cheers and applause]

[bright tone]