The Mystery of the Disappearing van Gogh

[prismatic]

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/29/world/asia/van-gogh-china-buyer.html

[neonate]

http://web.archive.org/web/20230531132623/https://www.nytime...

https://archive.ph/0wTb9

[pcurve]

Considering it is far from being his best or well known work, the $62m price tag is still shocking.

https://news.artnet.com/market/chinese-film-magnate-buys-van...

His most recent work sold is even lesser known work at nearly double the price tag.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orchard_with_Cypresses

I'm convinced The Starry Night painting would fetch 1.5 billion dollar, if it were to ever come onto market.

[scrubs]

The pickure of the invoice looks like it's made on windows 7 + quickbooks 2011 using the "executive template" suggestive of Sotheby's flourish for paperwork /s

[einpoklum]

Massive bids on paintings are a preposterous craze of privileged people with too much (ill-gotten) wealth.

[CharlesW → einpoklum]

Art is apparently a very popular vehicle for laundering money.

https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/fandd/issues/2019/09/the...

[gerdesj → CharlesW]

"For Green, dabbling in the dark art of money laundering has ended poorly. He has been indicted in the United States on six counts of attempted money laundering, and his gallery in the Mayfair district of London has been declared insolvent by British regulators."

... and will eventually end in tears.

[mcv → einpoklum]

Ill-gotten. It wouldn't surprise me if overpriced art was a major avenue for money laundering. Secret buyers, ridiculous sums of money, and paintings vanishing into private collections would make it perfect for that.