Hello, Dollar The Greatest American Object in Art History

Felix Salmon | Art Agency | 6th July 2017

Benchmarking art today against a famous 1990’s exhibition, what has changed? Money, of course. With a few exceptions “of the 78 most expensive paintings of all time, all of the pre-1945 works are European, and all of the post-1945 works are American.’ Art critics were influential in 1993 but “the crucial role of ratification has been almost entirely outsourced to the market—the most expensive artists are entirely critic-proof.”