«GOOD BUSINESS IS THE BEST ART»

INSKEEP: how much excitement does a Warhol generate when it comes up for auction?

Ms. THORNTON: Well, you know, every season sees a dozen or so Warhol's and he made about 10,000 works in his lifetime so they're not all the same. And subject matter tends to define what's most coveted. That subject matter then is kind of pinned on to the quality of the screen, the vibrancy of the color, the size of the painting as well as rarity and date.

INSKEEP: I wonder if it is the fame that Warhol generated for himself that underlies the value of the painting now? Because if you're buying this painting as an investment, as an asset, that you want to at least hold its value of not increasing value over several years, you want to make sure the artist is still going to be famous in five or 10 or 15 years and you can feel pretty confident that Warhol will be.

Ms. THORNTON: I think that's absolutely true. I think fame and the media is probably under researched as a topic in art history, and now that we have a global art market, the media can be even more important.

NPR.org
Nov 27 2009