Unusual masterpieces worth millions of dollars
There are many paintings of great artists which make people admire their beauty and art of execution. But there are drawings that are embarrassing and confusing. When you look at them, it is not clear what was the artist’s intention when he painted his picture, what was his motive, and why this painting admires people, and why it is so expensive?
Let’s have a look at some of the most famous and expensive of these ‘strange’ paintings. For example, this is a painting by Mark Rothko called ‘Orange, Red, Yellow.’
Mark Rothko ‘Orange, Red, Yellow’
The painting depicts horizontal rectangles painted in bright vibrant colors and contoured with soft blurry boundaries. Few people would agree that it’s clear to them what was the artist’s message, what he was hinting at with his painting? It’s more of a metaphor or a provocation. This painting cannot be explained through binding it with reality, because the artist animates space through color in his painting. At an auction in New York, the painting ‘Orange, Red, Yellow’ was sold for 86.9 million dollars, a record for contemporary art.
The previous record was set by another his painting, ‘White Center’, which was sold at the auction for 72, 8 mln. $.
White Center by Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko is one of the founders of the color field painting. His abstract paintings consist of fields representing multiple color zones. The artist confessed that in his paintings, he wanted to capture the “expression of the ancient human concepts and emotions – tragedy, ecstasy, death. In this way he wanted to convey the religious stages of human development. At exhibitions, the artist used soft light. This underlined metaphysics of his works. In the gloom color blocks seemed as if hanging in the infinite space, the color field stretched to the border of the canvas so that optically the painting seemed dissolved in the wall.
Examples of these ‘unusual’ masterpieces include painting ‘Number 5’ by Jackson Pollock, sold at the auction for $ 140 million. You can read the article about the most expensive paintings of the world to learn more about this painting.
‘Number 5’ by Jackson Pollock
Famous paintings are also ‘False Start’ by Jasper Johns (sold for 80 million dollars), ‘Green Car Crash’ by Andy Warhol (sold for $ 71 million), paintings of Kazimir Malevich. What do the art lovers see in them? Why do such paintings, which at first glance do not represent any artistic value, cost so much money? You can hear a variety of answers to this question. Most probably, abstract art was a breakthrough in the art and it is still relevant today. Such art is fashionable, simple, concise and original. Of course, you can say that you can draw better. You can try, and maybe, someday, your picture will be also judged on its merits.
