OMG, why? Why paid £23.1 million for this?

[YeOldeTrout]

Painting by David Hockney. It is so boring. Just why?

I don’t know much about art but I really love his stuff. Such vibrant use of colour.

Art is just one big great money laundering scheme

I just bought that yesterday 😄. It was a £1.50 fridge magnet from the Tate. Its the nearest I’ll get to owning one.

The price is ridiculous I'm not a fan BUT that is not an easy painting to copy. We had to "copy" this painting when studying. Oh how we all laughed, there were some extremely talented people on my course and no one could copy it. I found it fascinating that what we all saw as an easy picture, nothing going on in it etc was incredibly hard to replicate. Our art teacher used it as a good lesson tbh.

Still, no excuse for the price tag but whatever floats peoples boats and all that.

There's a lot going on really : the window is showing the background and shadows the other side of the picture ( so to speak)
The splash bit is very realistic , but who is in the pool? The colours are so vibrant. I'm no expert on art at all , but I can appreciate the work on it and how intriguing it is. It looks easy to copy , but I'm not surprised to read it's anything but. One side is also slightly more raised than the other too.
I really like it. Huge amount of money though. It really does show the divide between rich and poor when one item can be worth that much. It is madness.

I suspect many people who spend millions on art know everything about art but don't know what they like.

I like to buy original art from up and coming artists but I buy it because I want to hang it on my wall, not as an investment. Which is just as well because I haven't discovered the new David Hockney yet!

It is an easy picture to copy, any Chinese copy shop could run one up in an afternoon and I’m sure David Hockney himself would agree. Any painting is easy to copy if copying paintings is your work... you may struggle with some ancient pigments etc if it’s an old master, but it’s simply a learned skill. Most painters , if they have any figurative skills and experience, can copy a 2d image perfectly.
Though certainly not so easy to create the original (he spent two weeks painting just the splash).
The genius is perhaps in what it evokes with its clever use of colour, the simplicity of the image and the complexity of the splash. It would take some mind to think up the image for sure. And to paint it first.
But it just isn’t true that it’s hard to copy.
If you’ve never painted anything ever, then perhaps tricky. Otherwise , not difficult.

I love Hockney, he’s one of my favourite artists. If I had that sort of money to throw around I would buy it too.

Having two weeks to devote to a tiny piece of your art just blows my mind to be honest! True artists are so focused and must have the patience of a saint. It's a labour of love as well as a gift.

Emperor's new clothes. But also, if you can spare £23 million and you like it then why not.

It’s a nice painting. To me it’s not worth that much money (and it looks like something you’d find in the ‘The Range’) but loads of people would probably think I waste money on the things I buy so 🤷🏻‍♀️

Emperor's new clothes

You could say that about any property that costs more than it's construction costs though. In fact, anything that's value comes from something it's abstract desirability, like jewellery, antiques and (aptly) designer clothes.

I'm more intrigued by the flat Standrewsschool posted. What time of the morning did the estate agent's photographer have to get up to take a picture of Park Lane completely devoid of traffic!

this is pretty, at least 4metres wide so a lot for your money. Nice range of colours, detail.
I "get" this one.

I cannot muster the slightest bit of interest in who (or what) made the splash or where they were. That splash painting says zero to me.

His huge paintings are incredible.
I liked the painting he did of the two men ( one was in the pool and the other one was dressed looking at him) I don't know names of his paintings but that one also sold for millions I believe. The stories I make up about those two in my head : I do have a vivid imagination sometimes.
Hockney also seems a nice man and very down to earth ( but I guarantee someone will say on here that he isn't! Hope not but usually what happens with celebs !)
I wish I had a bit of his talent though. Maybe in another life I'll be able to paint or sing ( or both)

It will be a real shame if it does go into a temperature-controlled bank vault. Art is only worth having if people can look at it.