In the past few years it seems that sales within the art world have increased and some of the prices for pieces of art being sold has soared astronomically. This is partly due to an increase in the number of wealthy business people and millionaires owning art as well as publicity surrounding well known urban artists such as banksy. In these cases some pieces have been sold at auction for tens of millions of pounds. But as well as high profile art sales there has also been a lot of public money invested into art institutions. For example in one of the most recent tragedies in the art world the notre dame cathedral partly burnt down. This caused extensive damage both inside and outside the building and destroyed one of the cathedral’s most well known spires.
In the immediate aftermath of the fire , several high profile business men as well as tycoons pledged hundreds of millions of pounds in money to help recreate the cathedral due to the fire. Reaction was mixed with many supporting the gesture and happy that people wanted to support the rebuilding of the cathedral. However on the other hand people have argued that investing such a significant sum of money into the cathedral is madness as is there are much more pressing issues which could be addressed in France such as homelessness or investment into public services. There was also criticism for how fast the wealthy investors responded to the fire with many of the public seeing it as a way to get positive media attention rather than contribute to society.
Similar Events
A similar event which occurred in recent years was the Glasgow school of art fire. This fire effectively gutted the Glasgow school of art and severely damaged several nearby buildings. The fire was so severe that perimeter had to be set up around the affected area to prevent members of the public being put at risk from unstable buildings or debris after the fire had been put out. As with the notre Dame fire the Glasgow school of art had always been held in very high public regard as was seen as one of the icons of Glasgow. The Government as well as the council voiced proposals to use millions in funding to hep restore the building and to ensure it was remained “no matter the cost” this as with the situation in France provoked mixed reaction. Many of the residents whose homes and businesses were destroyed or badly damaged from the fire did not support the move to restore the building regardless of cost.
This overall poses the question is there a price limit for art? in many cases , no there is not and some items have even been classified as priceless due to their age and authenticity. However what can be concluded that in some instances the amount of money being invested in art far outweighs the perceived value of it. Unfortunately in many instances other institutions such as sports centres and community hubs simply do not garner the same interest or investment from investors or business people regardless of whether has been damage to the institution or not.