I was asked recently how I felt about the $450 million DaVinci painting. I don’t really know how I feel and, frankly, the momentous occasion had come and gone without my so much as skipping a heartbeat. That kind of money is not real to me or the rest of the world.
Given several days to mull over this upsetting (not my sentiment) and historical event, I still don’t have any thoughts on the art piece. But here’s a thought. Does it upset anyone that a professional soccer player, Cristiano Rinaldo, made $93 million last year? And for massive rushes of adrenaline, some sports endorsement, and entertainment? His incredibly good looks and foot maneuvers may be played over and over on YouTube and a Portuguese soft drink may up its sales but really, what’s left? An American football franchise value is expected to topple triple billion next season as a showcase for entertaining half-time ads that cost $167 million per second. Why does it seem unreasonable to pay for a work of art painted by a very famous dead person of a very famous (fictitious) dead person that was supposed to have saved the world? Seems like a bargain to me.
But I’ve been pushed for some thought.
Here’s what I’m mildly perturbed about: ‘Salvator Mundi’ (Savior of the World) $450 million could be put toward something that could actually save the world. What to do with all the un-biodegradable plastics we’ve spewed out into every part of the planet. It seems that plastic particulates have made the eastern populations that surrounds the pacific rim less fertile. Do we need more fertile people because it seems we already have a good size population of 7.6 billion. We could do more research on global warming even though the temperature has only gone up (what is it?) 1.5 degrees in the last 150 years. We could use that funding to eliminate slashing and burning in the disappearing (or is it really?) Amazon rain forest. What if we give each poacher a voucher and an oh-so-valuable rare diamond, and a lollipop to stop killing rhinos for the horns? Hmm. I hadn’t thought about rhinoceroses for a while except on that YouTube video of the cute baby one. It’s all perceived value. Isn’t it?
$450 million for a painting… I hadn’t really thought about it much.