This was the face I made upon discovering that Sotheby's sold one of the 4 versions of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch's 'The Scream' to businessman, Leon Black, on 2 May 2012 for about $120m. While I appreciate a beautiful pastel and a poem, this work surely fetched for triple of what would be an already exorbitant sum. Existential angst, indeed.
Having seen it at the MoMA with hoards of smart-phone toting museum goers capturing a shot of one of the most recognizable images in the art world, I was reminded of Thomas Struth's photography.
Struth brilliantly captures onlookers of Las Meninas at the Prado Museum in Madrid.
I was also reminded of the horrendous swarms of people at The Louvre surrounding the Mona Lisa. What makes the work of art more of a visceral experience nowadays... is capturing it on a personal electronic device and broadcasting it to friends, family, and voyeurs. Does this legitimize the experience? Does tweeting or uploading a Facebook status with the image enhance the viewing pleasure?
Like Struth, I prefer watching people watching the art...
