0:00:02 > 0:00:04What would you buy if you had 100 million?
0:00:04 > 0:00:06A palazzo in Venice maybe,
0:00:06 > 0:00:10or perhaps a fleet of private jets, or a personal submarine.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14Or would you plough it all into a single painting?
0:00:14 > 0:00:17Some of the richest people in the world have done just that.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20Your bidder at 95 million.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24What makes the super-rich splash out so much money on art? Is it love?
0:00:24 > 0:00:27Rivalry? Or just big business?
0:00:27 > 0:00:30I want to find out more about this infamously secretive art world,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33and the multi-millionaires who populate it.
0:00:33 > 0:00:37- You've got your grubby hands on my beautiful wall.- I do apologise.
0:00:37 > 0:00:40I'm searching for the most expensive paintings in the world,
0:00:40 > 0:00:44to uncover the stories behind their record breaking prices.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47Fair warning... Going...
0:00:47 > 0:00:48BANGS GAVEL
0:00:58 > 0:01:02This is Christie's big showroom in London and what you can see are
0:01:02 > 0:01:04the paintings, some of the paintings,
0:01:04 > 0:01:07that will be sold at the big evening auction in New York,
0:01:07 > 0:01:09which is coming up in just a few weeks.
0:01:09 > 0:01:12And this is one of the highlights, a Picasso.
0:01:12 > 0:01:16It's a series he did in the '50s known as the women of Algiers,
0:01:16 > 0:01:18it's got an upper estimate of 30 million.
0:01:18 > 0:01:20This is another of the star lots, a Monet,
0:01:20 > 0:01:24from a series he did I think in the 1890s, 1891.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28These are poplar trees, this could sell for as much as 30 million.
0:01:28 > 0:01:30And this is a Rothko,
0:01:30 > 0:01:34that has been practically unknown to art historians.
0:01:34 > 0:01:39Belonged in a private collection. Let's have a look at the estimate...
0:01:39 > 0:01:42This could sell for 22 million, apparently.
0:01:42 > 0:01:4722 million? 30 million?
0:01:47 > 0:01:51That sounds like an awful lot of money for a painting.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53Well, it's not.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56It is a bargain compared to the eye-watering amounts paid
0:01:56 > 0:01:59for the top ten paintings sold at auction.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02When you think about it, art is a little bit like magic,
0:02:02 > 0:02:04because just with the wave of a brush,
0:02:04 > 0:02:07something that has no practical purpose whatsoever -
0:02:07 > 0:02:11just a worthless scrap of canvas, covered with inexpensive pigment -
0:02:11 > 0:02:15can become this priceless object that's desired by many
0:02:15 > 0:02:19of the wealthiest and most powerful people anywhere on the planet.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22Abracadabra! But how exactly is it done?
0:02:22 > 0:02:27Just what is the link between art and money?
0:02:27 > 0:02:29My story starts here in New York,
0:02:29 > 0:02:33where the American abstract painter Mark Rothko
0:02:33 > 0:02:36dominated the art world in the '50s and '60s.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39And it is perhaps a surprise to those who find abstract art
0:02:39 > 0:02:44hard to take, that one of his paintings is number ten on my list.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49To find out why, I've come to a billionaire's skyscraper.
0:02:49 > 0:02:54This is Rothko's "White Center",
0:02:54 > 0:02:57and it would cost you more than 72 million.
0:02:57 > 0:03:0272,840,000, to be precise.
0:03:02 > 0:03:05And that's put it at number ten
0:03:05 > 0:03:09in our list of the most expensive paintings in the world.
0:03:09 > 0:03:11Going up!
0:03:15 > 0:03:17Start the bidding at 33, 34, 35 million dollars...
0:03:17 > 0:03:19I'm bid 36 million dollars.
0:03:19 > 0:03:20The painting was sold
0:03:20 > 0:03:24at the auctioneers Sotheby's, in New York, in 2007.
0:03:24 > 0:03:2563 million dollars...
0:03:25 > 0:03:28Fair warning... 64 million. Just in time.
0:03:28 > 0:03:32And when you factor in the hefty buyer's premium
0:03:32 > 0:03:36on top of the hammer price stated by the auctioneer,
0:03:36 > 0:03:38this made it a record breaking amount.
0:03:38 > 0:03:43More than three times the previous price paid for a Rothko.
0:03:43 > 0:03:44So what does this tell us?
0:03:44 > 0:03:49That "White Center" is officially the tenth best painting ever made?
0:03:49 > 0:03:51Not exactly.
0:03:51 > 0:03:53The important thing to remember is that value isn't really
0:03:53 > 0:03:56linked to quality.
0:03:56 > 0:03:59Something that can send the price of a painting rocketing
0:03:59 > 0:04:02is what is known in the art world as provenance -
0:04:02 > 0:04:03who has owned the painting in the past.
0:04:03 > 0:04:06And in the case of Rothko's "White Center",
0:04:06 > 0:04:10it was owned by one of the wealthiest and most powerful dynasties in America -
0:04:10 > 0:04:14the Rockefellers, who amassed their fortune from oil and banking,
0:04:14 > 0:04:18and reshaped the New York skyline with The Rockefeller Centre.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21On the 56th floor, David Rockefeeller built an impressive
0:04:21 > 0:04:26art collection that included works by Picasso, Gaugin and Mark Rothko.
0:04:26 > 0:04:31In 1960, he paid less than 10,000 for White Center.
0:04:31 > 0:04:38Half a century later, it was worth more than 72 million.
0:04:38 > 0:04:41Today, the painting is even known informally
0:04:41 > 0:04:43as the Rockefeller Rothko.
0:04:43 > 0:04:44Which says it all,
0:04:44 > 0:04:49the name of its former owner is as important as that of the artist!
0:04:49 > 0:04:55To find out if White Center deserves it's number ten spot,
0:04:55 > 0:04:57I'm on my way to New York's famous Pace Gallery
0:04:57 > 0:05:00to meet one of the world's leading art dealers,
0:05:00 > 0:05:01Arnie Glincher.
0:05:01 > 0:05:03Arnie was friends with Rothko,
0:05:03 > 0:05:07and has been buying and selling his work for 50 years.
0:05:07 > 0:05:13- Is this a really great Rothko? - It is a wonderful painting.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17But what Rothko was really interested in
0:05:17 > 0:05:21was the idea of an almost formlessness
0:05:21 > 0:05:26use of colour, to transmit pure human emotion.
0:05:26 > 0:05:29I mean, you just have have to strip away all of the prejudices
0:05:29 > 0:05:32that you have, looking at a painting by Rothko,
0:05:32 > 0:05:36and let it flow over you like great music flows over you.
0:05:36 > 0:05:40You know, there are very few artists in the history of art
0:05:40 > 0:05:45that create something that we have never seen before.
0:05:45 > 0:05:47Rothko was one of those artists.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50But all kinds of things converge
0:05:50 > 0:05:53for a painting to bring that sum of money.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57- Such as what? - Such as its provenance.
0:05:57 > 0:06:03It was the Rockefeller name which amazed me.
0:06:03 > 0:06:06Why do you say it has amazed you?
0:06:06 > 0:06:09Because the whole thing of art and money is ridiculous.
0:06:09 > 0:06:10The value of a painting at auction
0:06:10 > 0:06:13is not necessarily the value of the painting.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16It's the value of two people bidding against each other
0:06:16 > 0:06:18because they really want the painting.
0:06:18 > 0:06:22The people who bid the most for White Center,
0:06:22 > 0:06:24are rumoured to be oil billionaires,
0:06:24 > 0:06:26just like the Rockefellers,
0:06:26 > 0:06:27the Qatari royal family
0:06:27 > 0:06:31who'll be hosting the football World Cup in 2022.
0:06:31 > 0:06:36Sadly though, White Center hasn't been seen since the auction.
0:06:36 > 0:06:38I can't even show you a good reproduction.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45But my next painting couldn't be any more different.
0:06:45 > 0:06:48Here, the buyer specifically wanted
0:06:48 > 0:06:51to show a lost masterpiece to the world.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53At number nine in our list,
0:06:53 > 0:06:56is Peter Paul Rubens' Massacre of the Innocents.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58It sold at auction in 2002
0:06:58 > 0:07:04for 76,529,058.
0:07:11 > 0:07:14The Flemish painter, Peter Paul Rubens,
0:07:14 > 0:07:17is considered one of the greatest artists of all time.
0:07:17 > 0:07:18So perhaps it's unsurprising
0:07:18 > 0:07:21that an old master makes it onto my list.
0:07:23 > 0:07:25Actually, it's rare for such a good quality painting to come to auction.
0:07:25 > 0:07:29Nearly all the finest old masters are now in museums
0:07:29 > 0:07:32and they're highly unlikely to ever reach the market again.
0:07:32 > 0:07:35It's hard not to feel a little bit upset
0:07:35 > 0:07:37when you encounter this picture
0:07:37 > 0:07:41because there's just no shying away from the subject matter.
0:07:41 > 0:07:44It tells the story of King Herod's massacre
0:07:44 > 0:07:47of the newborn boys of Bethlehem.
0:07:47 > 0:07:48And it's terrifying.
0:07:51 > 0:07:56You see muscly soldiers ripping babies from their mother's arms
0:07:56 > 0:07:59and dashing them to the floor.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04The women themselves are weeping and wailing and scratching,
0:08:04 > 0:08:07clawing at the faces of their assailants.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11These lifeless corpses of the infants,
0:08:11 > 0:08:14here down at the bottom of the painting,
0:08:14 > 0:08:17tossed aside like unwanted, forgotten dolls.
0:08:17 > 0:08:22They have this distressing shade to their skin, this stone-cold blue.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27It's just too painful almost to look at and full of anguish
0:08:27 > 0:08:30and grief and despair and high, raw full-blooded emotion.
0:08:41 > 0:08:44To be able to do that,
0:08:44 > 0:08:48to transform something so horrendous and so complex
0:08:48 > 0:08:52into a coherent piece of beauty, is just astounding.
0:08:54 > 0:08:56I wondered before coming here,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59whether it's worth paying 76.5 million
0:08:59 > 0:09:01for any picture at all.
0:09:01 > 0:09:05You come here and you see this painting
0:09:05 > 0:09:07and it is a total, total knockout.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15The Massacre of the Innocents is even more astonishing
0:09:15 > 0:09:17when you consider that until recently,
0:09:17 > 0:09:20it wasn't even thought to have been a Rubens at all.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25When it was finally identified or attributed to Rubens,
0:09:25 > 0:09:29the painting's value increased exponentially over night,
0:09:29 > 0:09:31adding several noughts to its price.
0:09:31 > 0:09:34Here at the National Gallery, art historian, David Jaffe,
0:09:34 > 0:09:38helped reveal who really painted the Massacre of the Innocents,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42by comparing it with another Rubens masterpiece, Samson and Delilah.
0:09:42 > 0:09:44Do you remember when you first saw it?
0:09:44 > 0:09:50Yes, I saw it at Sotheby's up in the upper so-called private room.
0:09:50 > 0:09:52It was pretty extraordinary.
0:09:52 > 0:09:54It was one of those ones where I said,
0:09:54 > 0:09:57"We don't have to have a large discussion on this,
0:09:57 > 0:09:58"it's clearly right."
0:09:58 > 0:10:01Tell me about the comparisons between Samson and Delilah
0:10:01 > 0:10:03and the Massacre of the Innocents.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07We actually took them upstairs here where we have decent sunlight
0:10:07 > 0:10:09and you can look at them very carefully.
0:10:09 > 0:10:11They had a lot of the same nuances.
0:10:11 > 0:10:14You cross a 'T' in a certain way and dot an 'i' in a certain way,
0:10:14 > 0:10:18painters handle a brush, particularly when they're bored,
0:10:18 > 0:10:19Rubens often has a little zig-zag.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22You can see it on the ankle of this painting.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25You're looking for his handwriting in paint
0:10:25 > 0:10:28and if a hand writing works, it's by that artist.
0:10:28 > 0:10:31Once the Massacre of the Innocents was attributed to Rubens,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34what does that do to the value of the painting?
0:10:36 > 0:10:40Well, I think everyone wants to buy the real thing.
0:10:40 > 0:10:45The very few great Rubens of any period in his career, you can buy.
0:10:45 > 0:10:50So when a great one comes up, it gets an exponential thrust.
0:10:50 > 0:10:55Until it's on that moment of being for sale, it doesn't have any value.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58It's an arbitrary thing.
0:10:58 > 0:11:02You can't protect how idiotic three or four people will be
0:11:02 > 0:11:05trying to chase the magic rabbit round the circuit when it comes up.
0:11:07 > 0:11:10Only billionaires can chase that rabbit.
0:11:10 > 0:11:12Ken Thomson was Canada's richest man.
0:11:12 > 0:11:14He built a global media empire
0:11:14 > 0:11:17that once encompassed the Times and the Sunday Times.
0:11:17 > 0:11:21He pumped millions into the art gallery of Ontario,
0:11:21 > 0:11:22in his home town of Toronto
0:11:22 > 0:11:25to share the glory of art and its creation,
0:11:25 > 0:11:27as he put it, with the world.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33The Thomson's are intensely private and seldom do interviews
0:11:33 > 0:11:34but Ken's son, David,
0:11:34 > 0:11:38who bid for the Massacre of the Innocents with his father,
0:11:38 > 0:11:40has agreed to speak to me.
0:11:40 > 0:11:43My father began collecting in the '50s.
0:11:43 > 0:11:50He'd mutter and sometimes he'd hit me in the arm and say, "Look at this!
0:11:50 > 0:11:54"Can you imagine someone being able to carve this way?
0:11:54 > 0:11:59"Look David, look at the spine." This is how he responded.
0:11:59 > 0:12:02With each object, it would be a different facet to the object.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05It would be the patination, the colour.
0:12:05 > 0:12:08One of the defining moments in the history of the collection,
0:12:08 > 0:12:11of course, came when you bought Rubens Massacre of the Innocents.
0:12:11 > 0:12:17And paid what still is, the world record for an old master painting.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19Of just north of 76.5 million.
0:12:19 > 0:12:25Weekly, until the auction, he'd come down with the catalogue
0:12:25 > 0:12:28and he'd ask me, "David, what do you think this will fetch?"
0:12:28 > 0:12:31"What would you do if you were me?"
0:12:31 > 0:12:35I'd say, "Dad, I think frankly you need to buy this picture."
0:12:35 > 0:12:38"It's something that resonates like nothing else."
0:12:38 > 0:12:44You must have had to fend off some supremely stiff competition.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47You must have known there was going to be a fight.
0:12:47 > 0:12:52- What was your strategy? - To triumph, to outlast them.
0:12:52 > 0:12:55- You knew you were going to win? - We knew we were going to win,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58at least I had a feeling we were going to a win.
0:12:58 > 0:13:00£45 million. Going to sell...
0:13:00 > 0:13:07The final prize was £49,500,000 or 76.5 million.
0:13:07 > 0:13:10After it was over, there was silence.
0:13:10 > 0:13:16He took his glasses off and he took a few deep breaths
0:13:16 > 0:13:20and I think he said something in effect of, "Oh, my goodness!"
0:13:20 > 0:13:23It's an enormous sum of money and on a painting,
0:13:23 > 0:13:26you think to yourself, it's shopping centres,
0:13:26 > 0:13:30it's tangible but it was a marker for my father
0:13:30 > 0:13:32and for his collections.
0:13:35 > 0:13:39Ken Thomson died before he could see the Massacre of the Innocents hang
0:13:39 > 0:13:43as the centrepiece of his collection at the Art Gallery of Ontario,
0:13:43 > 0:13:46on display for everyone to see forever.
0:13:46 > 0:13:49How do you feel when you go to the art gallery now,
0:13:49 > 0:13:51and look at this painting?
0:13:51 > 0:13:55I imagine if it were me, every time I saw it,
0:13:55 > 0:13:58I'd want to punch the air that I'd got this thing with my dad
0:13:58 > 0:14:00and given it now to the world.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02How do you feel?
0:14:02 > 0:14:03I feel...
0:14:05 > 0:14:09..I just feel a wild spring of emotion
0:14:09 > 0:14:12because it symbolised a journey for my father,
0:14:12 > 0:14:16it symbolised a journey between father and son
0:14:16 > 0:14:23and it resonated for us as it resonates for so many others.
0:14:23 > 0:14:27It's a very remarkable touchstone.
0:14:29 > 0:14:32So what have I learnt from painting number nine?
0:14:32 > 0:14:35Well, that overnight, the same painting can be viewed
0:14:35 > 0:14:37in a completely different way.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40One day the Massacre of the Innocents was overlooked,
0:14:40 > 0:14:45the next it was suddenly the most expensive old master ever sold.
0:14:45 > 0:14:49The canvas was exactly the same but the way it was perceived
0:14:49 > 0:14:55was magically transformed by its attribution to a superstar artist.
0:14:58 > 0:15:02To get more of an insight into the mentality of the art collector,
0:15:02 > 0:15:06I've come to a luxury penthouse apartment overlooking the Thames,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09owned by one of the world's best-selling novelists.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12What should I call you? Geoffrey?
0:15:13 > 0:15:15This is Sisley.
0:15:15 > 0:15:16I love that picture.
0:15:16 > 0:15:17Is that a pastel?
0:15:17 > 0:15:21That's a pastel which is very rare, painted over 100 pastels
0:15:21 > 0:15:22in his lifetime.
0:15:22 > 0:15:24It's one of those rare paintings
0:15:24 > 0:15:27where I wanted it within seconds of seeing it.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29Sometimes I go back, look a second time
0:15:29 > 0:15:31but that one I knew immediately.
0:15:31 > 0:15:35- You've got your grubby hands on my beautiful wall.- I do apologise.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42Jeffrey Archer, is currently 583rd in Britain's rich list.
0:15:42 > 0:15:44He's had a colourful career.
0:15:44 > 0:15:47A politician and confidant of Margaret Thatcher,
0:15:47 > 0:15:49he was made a lord by John Major
0:15:49 > 0:15:53but he's also served a prison sentence for perjury.
0:15:53 > 0:15:55His novels have allowed him to pursue his passion
0:15:55 > 0:15:56for collecting art,
0:15:56 > 0:16:01not old masters but 19th century Impressionists.
0:16:01 > 0:16:06Here you'll see one of my philosophies on collecting.
0:16:06 > 0:16:09Because I can't afford the major Impressionists,
0:16:09 > 0:16:12I buy the next rank down.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15They're often just as good, but not as well known.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18This is a Camois.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20- This is like Matisse.- Or Gauguin.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23If there was a Gauguin and this was a Van Gogh,
0:16:23 > 0:16:27you're talking not 10 times the price,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29you're talking 100 times the price.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33I suppose... let's get rid of your coat.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37I suppose the big thing about the main room is...
0:16:37 > 0:16:38- The view.- Exactly.
0:16:38 > 0:16:41Which do you prefer, your paintings or the view?
0:16:41 > 0:16:43It's amazing. When people come here,
0:16:43 > 0:16:44they immediately say the view.
0:16:44 > 0:16:46It's hard not to stand here like this,
0:16:46 > 0:16:48which is a shame for the collection.
0:16:48 > 0:16:49That's what people do, walk-in,
0:16:49 > 0:16:52see the view, forget the pictures completely.
0:16:52 > 0:16:53I can't help noticing,
0:16:53 > 0:16:56you talked about having second rank artists in the corridor
0:16:56 > 0:16:59in terms of the Impressionists, but here's Andy Warhol.
0:16:59 > 0:17:01- Is he first rate? I don't think so.- Do you not?
0:17:01 > 0:17:05I think he's very expensive now but I don't think he's a great artist, no.
0:17:05 > 0:17:06I do like this, it's not dissimilar,
0:17:06 > 0:17:10the hairstyle between Marilyn and Margaret Thatcher.
0:17:10 > 0:17:11They were both powerful women.
0:17:11 > 0:17:14- How much do you think this will be worth now?- I've no idea now.
0:17:14 > 0:17:16Don't be so vulgar.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19You called me the vulgarian, vulgar question,
0:17:19 > 0:17:21does the money for buying art come from...
0:17:21 > 0:17:25This is a golden book. This is the equivalent of going platinum.
0:17:25 > 0:17:26Cain and Abel.
0:17:26 > 0:17:29That's the breakthrough, if that's what you're getting at
0:17:29 > 0:17:31in your continued vulgar way.
0:17:31 > 0:17:33Yes, it was Cain and Abel that made it possible for me
0:17:33 > 0:17:35to have the collection I have.
0:17:35 > 0:17:38My favourite picture in a way, is this one, the Albert Goodwin.
0:17:38 > 0:17:42Often compared as an artist to Turner.
0:17:42 > 0:17:47What you see there, is he must have painted it from just over there.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50It's the amazing golds and the amazing colours.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54At night, when the sun is coming over it, it looks magnificent.
0:17:54 > 0:17:56- When did you buy it?- 30 years ago.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59You've been collecting for several decades?
0:17:59 > 0:18:01I've been collecting for 50 years.
0:18:01 > 0:18:04If you get into this mad world, it's like drugs.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07You have to have another one, you have to have another fix.
0:18:07 > 0:18:08It's just awful
0:18:08 > 0:18:12and wherever you see something you can just about afford,
0:18:12 > 0:18:14you just about afford it.
0:18:14 > 0:18:17All collectors are all stupid and mad.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26And collectors really go mad for the artist at number seven
0:18:26 > 0:18:28in our top 10.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32I'll explain why we jumped to seven in a moment.
0:18:32 > 0:18:35No one quite captures the imagination like Claude Monet,
0:18:35 > 0:18:37the prince of the Impressionists.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41He spent the second half of his life depicting his gardens at Giverny,
0:18:41 > 0:18:45especially the water lilies which he painted obsessively.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49Most of them are in museums, so when a good one comes on the market,
0:18:49 > 0:18:50it creates a frenzy.
0:18:50 > 0:18:56In the room, the telephones at £28 million now. £28.5 million.
0:19:00 > 0:19:04At number seven in my top 10, it's Monet's Water Lily Pond
0:19:04 > 0:19:11going for 80,379,591.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15I'm with Tanya Pos, who bid for the painting and won.
0:19:16 > 0:19:19Well, Tanya, tell me about the night
0:19:19 > 0:19:22that you bid 80 million for this painting.
0:19:22 > 0:19:24Well, where to start.
0:19:24 > 0:19:25I knew that this painting was going to
0:19:25 > 0:19:27outshine its estimate
0:19:27 > 0:19:30and there was a lot of competition in the room.
0:19:30 > 0:19:33I knew that it was a very important piece for Monet
0:19:33 > 0:19:35because of his water lily series
0:19:35 > 0:19:38that he painted consecutively for 26 years.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40That's the question I wanted to ask
0:19:40 > 0:19:42because they are so many of these paintings.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45What's so special about this one that means it's worth so much?
0:19:45 > 0:19:49First of all, of his late water lilies, few are signed
0:19:49 > 0:19:54and this is a completed late version, signed by the artist.
0:19:54 > 0:19:57We should make clear that you weren't buying this for yourself.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59- You were buying this for somebody else.- Yes.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01Who were you buying it for?
0:20:01 > 0:20:03I will never say.
0:20:03 > 0:20:04Tantalising stuff.
0:20:04 > 0:20:06Confidentiality is part of my job.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10What is it that motivates some of these collectors
0:20:10 > 0:20:12to spend this amount on works of art?
0:20:12 > 0:20:15Well, I think, the people I work with
0:20:15 > 0:20:17are surrounded by quality in their lives
0:20:17 > 0:20:20so why would it stop in their art collecting?
0:20:20 > 0:20:21They wish to have the very best
0:20:21 > 0:20:24and they want to be surrounded by the very best,
0:20:24 > 0:20:28whether it's their home, their car, their planes...
0:20:28 > 0:20:32it's just the way they live their lives.
0:20:34 > 0:20:35Take a good look at the painting.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39It's appeared only once in public in the last 80 years,
0:20:39 > 0:20:43and since the auction, hasn't been seen again.
0:20:47 > 0:20:51This brings me to the story of the shocking disappearance
0:20:51 > 0:20:54of the next two paintings in our top ten.
0:20:54 > 0:20:59The most popular postcard sold by the National Gallery is this one.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02It's a reproduction of a still life, of a vase of sunflowers,
0:21:02 > 0:21:05painted by Vincent Van Gogh in 1888.
0:21:05 > 0:21:10You can see that in reality it's much more luminous and radiant.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13This is one of the most famous paintings in the world
0:21:13 > 0:21:15and if it ever came onto the market,
0:21:15 > 0:21:17it would sell for an insane amount of money.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19But it won't.
0:21:19 > 0:21:24But when the highest achievements by some of our greatest artists
0:21:24 > 0:21:27do appear at auction, the art market can be influenced
0:21:27 > 0:21:30by much more than simply love of the painting.
0:21:31 > 0:21:35That's exactly what happened in the heady days
0:21:35 > 0:21:38just before the stock market crash of 1990,
0:21:38 > 0:21:42when two paintings sold within days of each other.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46Vincent van Gogh's, Portrait of Dr Gachet at Christie's
0:21:46 > 0:21:52and Au Moulin de la Galette by Pierre-Auguste Renoir at Sotheby's.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Number eight and number six in my top ten,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58purchased in a mad, two-day, spending spree
0:21:58 > 0:22:00by the same collector.
0:22:02 > 0:22:03In the late 80s, buying art
0:22:03 > 0:22:06had become a muscular, masculine pursuit.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10Buying the best was like big game hunting,
0:22:10 > 0:22:14only to be attempted by the bravest with the deepest pockets.
0:22:14 > 0:22:16It was a rampaging bull market
0:22:16 > 0:22:20and prices were being forced up by the new kids on the art block...
0:22:22 > 0:22:23..the Japanese.
0:22:24 > 0:22:26Hold on everyone else.
0:22:27 > 0:22:3071 million. Congratulations.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34The man with the biggest wallet in the room
0:22:34 > 0:22:37was a paper tycoon, Ryoei Saito,
0:22:37 > 0:22:39intensely eccentric and secretive,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42no-one knew whether he bought both paintings for love,
0:22:42 > 0:22:44or solely as an investment,
0:22:44 > 0:22:49because he spirited them away, out of sight even from his own family.
0:22:52 > 0:22:55The man who sold Portrait of Dr Gachet
0:22:55 > 0:22:59is legendary auctioneer Christopher Burge.
0:22:59 > 0:23:0017 million.
0:23:00 > 0:23:04He's sold more of the paintings in this film than anyone else.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10I want to discover more about the role and power of Auctioneers
0:23:10 > 0:23:13and how they steer prices skywards
0:23:13 > 0:23:15in all the excitement of the auction room.
0:23:15 > 0:23:17Sell warning and selling.
0:23:17 > 0:23:22This is the Woods Room which is the second of our sale rooms here,
0:23:22 > 0:23:25the smaller of the two, where we conduct most of our auctions,
0:23:25 > 0:23:28I would say 90% of all our auctions take place in here.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30This, of course, is the room
0:23:30 > 0:23:32in which we are about to give you an auction lesson.
0:23:32 > 0:23:35This is where I'm going to learn that the trade?
0:23:35 > 0:23:38A large staff will be assembling fairly soon to act as bidders,
0:23:38 > 0:23:40telephone bidders, sales clerks
0:23:40 > 0:23:43and the rest of it, just as if it were an auction.
0:23:43 > 0:23:45I thought it was just going to be you and me?
0:23:45 > 0:23:46No, no, no, no, no.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57Let's begin with lot 327, a sculpture by Rodin.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01Do I have any bids at 24,000 in the room? Do I have 28?
0:24:01 > 0:24:04Thank you, madam. 28,000.
0:24:04 > 0:24:0630,000, thank you even more.
0:24:06 > 0:24:09I tend, for months before these big sales,
0:24:09 > 0:24:11to have anxiety dreams about the auctions.
0:24:11 > 0:24:13You still get nervous?,
0:24:13 > 0:24:15Oh, God. Terrified. More so, actually.
0:24:15 > 0:24:17The more I do it, the more nervous I get.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21Do I have 150,000 in the room?
0:24:21 > 0:24:23Someone?
0:24:23 > 0:24:26Anyone in the room, anyone at all?
0:24:26 > 0:24:29I'm not getting much love from the room.
0:24:29 > 0:24:33Art dealers, collectors, hangers-on, most of them, frankly,
0:24:33 > 0:24:36would love to see something go wrong. It's quite gladiatorial.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38You get the feeling the thumbs are like this
0:24:38 > 0:24:39and will quickly go like that,
0:24:39 > 0:24:41if the auctioneer makes a hideous mistake.
0:24:41 > 0:24:44Would you like to pay 55,000?
0:24:44 > 0:24:47Against you, sir, at 55,000.
0:24:47 > 0:24:52I know your habits, I can sometimes get an extra bit. 55,000.
0:24:52 > 0:24:55Once you get into the swing of the auction,
0:24:55 > 0:24:58it's easy to lose sight of the numbers
0:24:58 > 0:25:00and the reality of the sums at stake.
0:25:00 > 0:25:04Sold to this Madam... this lady over here, 58,000.
0:25:04 > 0:25:09But as Burge concedes, occasionally prices in the auction room
0:25:09 > 0:25:11are not just about the paintings.
0:25:11 > 0:25:14Doesn't it happened in auctions that sometimes prices go so high
0:25:14 > 0:25:16that people afterwards applaud?
0:25:16 > 0:25:20Only once was there ever sustained applause for a lot that I sold
0:25:20 > 0:25:24and that was for the Van Gogh, Portrait of Dr Gachet.
0:25:24 > 0:25:28When it was sold, and I hammered it down at 82.5 million,
0:25:28 > 0:25:32which was then the world record price for any work of art,
0:25:32 > 0:25:35there was sustained applause, people leapt to their feet,
0:25:35 > 0:25:38they cheered and yelled.
0:25:38 > 0:25:41APPLAUSE
0:25:41 > 0:25:43This applause went on for several minutes
0:25:43 > 0:25:45which is completely unheard of in an auction.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49The reason everybody applauded, I believe, is because
0:25:49 > 0:25:54we had a very serious financial situation developing in 1990,
0:25:54 > 0:25:56all sorts of things were collapsing,
0:25:56 > 0:25:59and the Japanese buyers who had been the mainstay of the market
0:25:59 > 0:26:01were beginning to get nervous and were pulling out
0:26:01 > 0:26:05and everybody was convinced that the market was going to tumble.
0:26:05 > 0:26:12And that lot, for a moment, stayed the collapse, as it were.
0:26:12 > 0:26:15I think, they were applauding out of relief
0:26:15 > 0:26:17that they had saved their money.
0:26:17 > 0:26:21Do you know, my feeling was one of, I have to admit it, great distaste.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23It was extremely uncomfortable.
0:26:23 > 0:26:26I felt like just walking off while this applause was going on,
0:26:26 > 0:26:27going off stage and not returning.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31They weren't applauding for Van Gogh, nor for the work of art,
0:26:31 > 0:26:33they were applauding for money.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39Whatever Saito's motives were for buying the Van Gogh and the Renoir,
0:26:39 > 0:26:42he faced financial ruin soon afterwards.
0:26:42 > 0:26:45Extraordinarily, he threatened to burn the paintings
0:26:45 > 0:26:47rather than sell them.
0:26:47 > 0:26:52In 1996, he died and the paintings haven't been seen since.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56Some genuinely believe he carried out his threat
0:26:56 > 0:26:57to reduce them to ashes.
0:26:57 > 0:27:01Others think they were secretly sold to pay his debts.
0:27:01 > 0:27:05Either way, they've passed into art world mythology.
0:27:05 > 0:27:08Just imagine the prices they'd achieve if they ever appeared again.
0:27:13 > 0:27:14Number five in our top ten
0:27:14 > 0:27:17is by a painter known for his brutal, difficult work
0:27:17 > 0:27:19and it brings me to London's Chelsea
0:27:19 > 0:27:23where millionaires live behind metal gates and brick walls.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28So many millionaires, in fact, that it's easy to get the wrong house.
0:27:29 > 0:27:31They are Francis Bacon. That's right.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33These are not genuine, sadly.
0:27:35 > 0:27:37Going in for Mr Jagger, are they?
0:27:37 > 0:27:39Mr Abramovich owns them.
0:27:39 > 0:27:42Would you believe it? We've got the wrong house.
0:27:42 > 0:27:45- I'm going to have to take them... can you show me?- Yes.
0:27:45 > 0:27:47That's where the garden is, there.
0:27:47 > 0:27:51- This one? So I should be putting these copies along here?- Yes.
0:27:58 > 0:28:02A triptych is a series of three paintings.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04That's two, I have a third.
0:28:06 > 0:28:11This one is by a famous British artist called Francis Bacon
0:28:11 > 0:28:16that sold at auction in 2008 for 86,281,000
0:28:16 > 0:28:18which puts it at number five
0:28:18 > 0:28:21in our list of the most expensive paintings in the world.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24There's a reason why I'm propping them up against a wall.
0:28:24 > 0:28:27Behind me is a house that belongs to the Russian billionaire
0:28:27 > 0:28:30and owner of Chelsea FC, Roman Abramovich,
0:28:30 > 0:28:34and the rumours are that he bought the real Triptych back in 2008.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37I have a very strong hunch that the real Triptych
0:28:37 > 0:28:41is actually hanging in that house behind me.
0:28:42 > 0:28:47At number five, Francis Bacon's Triptych
0:28:47 > 0:28:50which sold in Sotheby's in New York in 2008.
0:28:50 > 0:28:52Bacon's paintings are rising fast.
0:28:52 > 0:28:56Another work went for three times its estimate earlier this year.
0:28:56 > 0:28:58But they're not easy to look at.
0:28:58 > 0:29:02Bacon was a hard drinker and heavy gambler who painted a series
0:29:02 > 0:29:07of grisly triptychs and this is one of the goriest and best.
0:29:07 > 0:29:10Just look at those horrific winged creatures,
0:29:10 > 0:29:11pecking at a mangled carcase.
0:29:11 > 0:29:14You'd have to be made of stern stuff to enjoy
0:29:14 > 0:29:17staring at this above your mantelpiece.
0:29:17 > 0:29:20Maybe Roman Abramovich bought the Triptych to impress
0:29:20 > 0:29:23his girlfriend, Dasha Zhukova,
0:29:23 > 0:29:25who recently opened an art gallery in Moscow.
0:29:25 > 0:29:28His purchases have not gone unnoticed.
0:29:28 > 0:29:33He also paid a record-breaking price for another artist, Lucian Freud,
0:29:33 > 0:29:36who's now officially Britain's most expensive living artist
0:29:36 > 0:29:38thanks to Abramovich.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42Roman Abramovich is notoriously shy and declined my request
0:29:42 > 0:29:47to have a look at his mantelpiece and stare at his Bacon.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50I have tracked down the daughter of another oligarch,
0:29:50 > 0:29:52Maria Baibakova, herself a collector,
0:29:52 > 0:29:55to find out why Abramovich and the oligarchs
0:29:55 > 0:29:57are descending on the art market.
0:29:57 > 0:30:01During communism, we actually couldn't go out and buy a painting,
0:30:01 > 0:30:04we couldn't aggregate funds, we didn't have bank accounts.
0:30:04 > 0:30:07So all of a sudden in the '90s,
0:30:07 > 0:30:10we have capitalism coming in, we are able to own private property
0:30:10 > 0:30:13and after the affluent Russians
0:30:13 > 0:30:16buy their first homes and their first cars,
0:30:16 > 0:30:20then they move on to the luxury sector and art collecting.
0:30:20 > 0:30:24Obviously, the most famous oligarch within Britain is Roman Abramovich.
0:30:24 > 0:30:27Is he exceptional in terms of what he buys?
0:30:27 > 0:30:30We are only aware publicly of two works of art that
0:30:30 > 0:30:33Roman Abramovich has purchased...
0:30:33 > 0:30:37- Which are?- Which are the Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon Triptych.
0:30:37 > 0:30:42At the same time, he's a very substantial collector.
0:30:42 > 0:30:44It's not necessarily true
0:30:44 > 0:30:47that everything he's buying is of that price tag.
0:30:47 > 0:30:49Those were exceptional prices, weren't they?
0:30:49 > 0:30:51Those were exceptional prices.
0:30:51 > 0:30:53I guess, the big question is, did he overpay?
0:30:53 > 0:30:56Because it is such a large sum.
0:30:56 > 0:31:00I think the question is, why does it matter?
0:31:00 > 0:31:05I'd love to get a sense from you of why some of this new breed,
0:31:05 > 0:31:08if you like, of very wealthy Russians are buying art.
0:31:08 > 0:31:13Is it because they love it? Is it because they like to show off?
0:31:13 > 0:31:15Is it because art is a status symbol?
0:31:15 > 0:31:18If you think about it, most Russian art collectors are very private.
0:31:18 > 0:31:20You don't really know who they are,
0:31:20 > 0:31:22you don't really know what they own so...
0:31:22 > 0:31:24Do you know who they are and what they own?
0:31:24 > 0:31:27Well, a lot of them are my friends,
0:31:27 > 0:31:30so yes, but they are extremely private.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33So therefore, the whole idea of buying art as a status symbol
0:31:33 > 0:31:35falls apart right there
0:31:35 > 0:31:37because presumably, if you're buying art for status,
0:31:37 > 0:31:40you would want people to know that you bought this or that.
0:31:40 > 0:31:44OK, oligarchs may not do it for global recognition
0:31:44 > 0:31:47but it could be for approval among their peers.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50Maria Baibakova would seem to be proof of that.
0:31:50 > 0:31:55So far, the collectors of my top ten paintings have bought art
0:31:55 > 0:31:57for love, for prestige, for investment
0:31:57 > 0:32:00and as the ultimate luxury item.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04But the painting at number four has meaning for its buyer
0:32:04 > 0:32:08that goes beyond its monetary or even artistic value.
0:32:08 > 0:32:15Adele Bloch-Bauer II, painted by the Viennese artist Gustav Klimt in 1912
0:32:15 > 0:32:19came onto the market in spectacular fashion in 2006.
0:32:19 > 0:32:23The Bloch-Bauers were wealthy Austrian Jews,
0:32:23 > 0:32:25who along with so many others,
0:32:25 > 0:32:29had there possessions stolen by the Nazis.
0:32:29 > 0:32:32Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II, 25 million.
0:32:32 > 0:32:33Starting at 25 million...
0:32:33 > 0:32:35After years of legal wrangling,
0:32:35 > 0:32:39the painting was restored to its rightful owner,
0:32:39 > 0:32:41a descendant of the family living in California,
0:32:41 > 0:32:43who then decided to sell it.
0:32:43 > 0:32:46This is known as restitution art.
0:32:47 > 0:32:49Guy, your bidder at 78 million...
0:32:49 > 0:32:54With the buyer's premium, this made Adele Bloch-Bauer II
0:32:54 > 0:32:56the fourth most expensive painting in the world.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00Ronald S Lauder, who is himself Jewish
0:33:00 > 0:33:03and inherited the Estee Lauder cosmetics empire,
0:33:03 > 0:33:05is rumoured to have bought the painting
0:33:05 > 0:33:08but he's being coy about its whereabouts.
0:33:08 > 0:33:11However, he has allowed me into his gallery
0:33:11 > 0:33:13on New York's exclusive Fifth Avenue
0:33:13 > 0:33:16to see another of his paintings which is on public view.
0:33:16 > 0:33:20I've heard that this one cost him even more money.
0:33:20 > 0:33:24Here, at the Neue Gallerie in New York,
0:33:24 > 0:33:27there's another similar work, by the same artist, Klimt.
0:33:27 > 0:33:31He painted it five years earlier and it's a portrait of the same model,
0:33:31 > 0:33:33a woman called Adele Bloch-Bauer,
0:33:33 > 0:33:36who was the wife of a very wealthy sugar merchant in Vienna.
0:33:36 > 0:33:39The painting today is one of the most famous pictures in the world
0:33:39 > 0:33:41and it's somewhere up here.
0:33:51 > 0:33:54I've seen this a lot in reproduction,
0:33:54 > 0:33:57I've never seen it for real until today.
0:33:57 > 0:34:05And you can't help but be amazed by this gilded, bejewelled surface.
0:34:06 > 0:34:11This is a very lush, sensuous work. It's so civilised.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14Of course, it isn't just lush and refined,
0:34:14 > 0:34:17it is partly made of precious metals.
0:34:17 > 0:34:20It's got silver and gold there in the canvas
0:34:20 > 0:34:25as well as paint, so that the whole image screams money.
0:34:25 > 0:34:28I think that's the thing that I find quite difficult
0:34:28 > 0:34:30about this painting in particular.
0:34:30 > 0:34:34I just can't get past this idea that,
0:34:34 > 0:34:38ultimately, it's a portrait about infatuation,
0:34:38 > 0:34:41not just infatuation with a beautiful woman,
0:34:41 > 0:34:43infatuation with high society.
0:34:45 > 0:34:49The owner of this painting, the heir to a cosmetics fortune,
0:34:49 > 0:34:53paid the notorious price, reportedly,
0:34:53 > 0:34:56of 135 million for this painting alone
0:34:56 > 0:34:58in a private transaction
0:34:58 > 0:35:02which, however you spin it, is a staggering sum.
0:35:02 > 0:35:04He calls it our Mona Lisa.
0:35:04 > 0:35:08I think, referring to the gallery, he could be referring more widely
0:35:08 > 0:35:12to the fact that here it is, presented as a triumph of sorts
0:35:12 > 0:35:16over the atrocities that were perpetrated by the Nazis.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20As beautiful as it is, I think part of the reason he paid so much
0:35:20 > 0:35:23is because the history of this painting
0:35:23 > 0:35:25is bound up with a much bigger story,
0:35:25 > 0:35:30the history of the Jewish people during the 20th century.
0:35:30 > 0:35:31It's not in the top ten
0:35:31 > 0:35:36only because the amount Lauder paid cannot be verified.
0:35:36 > 0:35:37Much of the art sold
0:35:37 > 0:35:39never makes it to public auction,
0:35:39 > 0:35:42the money changing hands remain secret,
0:35:42 > 0:35:45but if 135 million is correct,
0:35:45 > 0:35:49does this make Klimt one of the greatest artists in the world,
0:35:49 > 0:35:53on a par with Rubens, Monet and Van Gogh?
0:35:53 > 0:35:56I don't think so but perhaps for Ronald Lauder,
0:35:56 > 0:36:00his purchases represent a form of cultural justice
0:36:00 > 0:36:03and for him, justice comes at any price.
0:36:11 > 0:36:15I've come to Venice because I've managed to secure an interview
0:36:15 > 0:36:16with our next billionaire
0:36:16 > 0:36:20who just happens to be one of the most important men in the world
0:36:20 > 0:36:21of contemporary art right now.
0:36:21 > 0:36:24And unlike many collectors,
0:36:24 > 0:36:28he's more than happy to put his collection on public display.
0:36:28 > 0:36:31Francois Pinault is one of France's richest businessmen.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34His luxury brands include Chateau Latour,
0:36:34 > 0:36:36one of the world's finest wines,
0:36:36 > 0:36:38the Vail Ski Resort in America
0:36:38 > 0:36:41and Christie's, the auctioneer.
0:36:41 > 0:36:44So if you've been wondering where all those buyers' premiums went,
0:36:44 > 0:36:47perhaps here is the answer.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50I'm heading towards the Punta della Dogana,
0:36:50 > 0:36:53which is one of two museums that Pinault has here in Venice.
0:36:53 > 0:36:57I want to find out what motivates Pinault to collect art at all.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01Does he do it for love? Or is it just another business opportunity?
0:37:06 > 0:37:10Pinault is amassing a blue-chip collection of contemporary art.
0:37:10 > 0:37:13This is Jeff Koons's Hanging Heart.
0:37:13 > 0:37:16I don't know what Pinault paid for it,
0:37:16 > 0:37:22but another almost identical work sold for 23 million in 2007.
0:37:22 > 0:37:26What is the secret of building a great collection?
0:37:26 > 0:37:28Be passionate
0:37:28 > 0:37:32and try to discover, to be very curious and be passionate.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35It's heart and passion, I think.
0:37:37 > 0:37:41To be a great collector, do you need to take risks?
0:37:41 > 0:37:42Absolutely, yes.
0:37:42 > 0:37:46I don't know if in 50 years the artist will be...
0:37:46 > 0:37:47it's not the issue.
0:37:47 > 0:37:49It's not the issue?
0:37:49 > 0:37:53You buy, you take your own risk. After that...
0:37:53 > 0:37:56It's for history to tell?
0:37:56 > 0:37:57Yes, absolutely.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03The piece in here, the Maurizio Cattelan horse...
0:38:03 > 0:38:05It's a good piece, like a joke.
0:38:05 > 0:38:09But it is not only a joke, it is a message. He goes in the wall.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15There is a risk for you and for me to go in the wall, no?
0:38:15 > 0:38:17To go through a brick wall?
0:38:17 > 0:38:18Yes.
0:38:18 > 0:38:19Very different.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24What do you think about... the bad side of the market
0:38:24 > 0:38:27is that prices are so expensive now.
0:38:27 > 0:38:29You spend, I don't know, 70 million...
0:38:29 > 0:38:32Very sad, yes. Very sad.
0:38:32 > 0:38:34Why do you think it's sad?
0:38:36 > 0:38:42Because very often it's bought by people who don't like art really.
0:38:42 > 0:38:45They buy art, sometimes, like a statue,
0:38:45 > 0:38:48like a social appearance.
0:38:48 > 0:38:50To show off, you mean?
0:38:50 > 0:38:52Probably, sometimes. It's a pity, but what can we do?
0:38:53 > 0:38:57The risk of Francois Pinault frittering away his millions
0:38:57 > 0:39:00on art that might simply be forgotten is great.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04But the potential reward of being remembered as an eagle-eyed patron
0:39:04 > 0:39:08of the Monets and Rothkos of tomorrow is even greater.
0:39:08 > 0:39:12Of course, Pinault can afford to take such a risk.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18Lot 32 is next. Woman of Algiers....
0:39:18 > 0:39:22But if you want a sure fire, armour-plated investment
0:39:22 > 0:39:24that will impress the hell out of your friends,
0:39:24 > 0:39:26hang splendidly on your wall,
0:39:26 > 0:39:29in your luxury penthouse or on your private yacht,
0:39:29 > 0:39:31then you need to get yourself, or your adviser,
0:39:31 > 0:39:34down to an auction and buy a Picasso.
0:39:34 > 0:39:3618,700,000.
0:39:40 > 0:39:44This one went for a paltry 19 million,
0:39:44 > 0:39:46plus the buyer's premium
0:39:46 > 0:39:48but the third most expensive painting in the world
0:39:48 > 0:39:51sold for nearly five times that.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54At number three, Dora Maar au Chat.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02Sold at Sotheby's in 2006,
0:40:02 > 0:40:06to a mystery man in the audience who no one had ever seen before,
0:40:06 > 0:40:08and who apparently spoke with a Russian accent.
0:40:08 > 0:40:13I wondered whether he was a friend of Maria Baibakova's as well.
0:40:13 > 0:40:16I was in the room when the painting was sold.
0:40:16 > 0:40:20Right after the auction ended, there was a lot of speculation about,
0:40:20 > 0:40:22who is the buyer behind the scenes?
0:40:22 > 0:40:24And I think it took the art world
0:40:24 > 0:40:26maybe about a year to really figure that out.
0:40:26 > 0:40:28So who is the buyer behind the scenes?
0:40:28 > 0:40:33So...it's a Georgian collector, who prefers to remain discreet.
0:40:33 > 0:40:37But everyone in the art world knows who he is?
0:40:37 > 0:40:39Eh... I don't know about everyone,
0:40:39 > 0:40:41but some people in the art world know who he is.
0:40:41 > 0:40:45So why don't you just tell us? If everyone knows?
0:40:45 > 0:40:47I am not at liberty to.
0:40:47 > 0:40:48Why, what will happen? He'll kill you?
0:40:48 > 0:40:50No, of course not!
0:40:50 > 0:40:56I just honour and respect people's desire for privacy and discretion.
0:40:56 > 0:41:02The only Georgian oligarch who seems to fit the bill is this man -
0:41:02 > 0:41:05Boris Ivanishvili- named in the Russian edition of Forbes magazine
0:41:05 > 0:41:07as the likely owner of the painting.
0:41:07 > 0:41:11He made his money from oil and mining, and lives in Moscow,
0:41:11 > 0:41:14presumably with Dora Maar and her cat.
0:41:17 > 0:41:19But this is more than I know about
0:41:19 > 0:41:22the owner of the next painting on my list.
0:41:22 > 0:41:25It's another Picasso and it was sold in 2004.
0:41:25 > 0:41:29But nobody can tell me where it is or who the buyer might even be.
0:41:29 > 0:41:32Once again, when art becomes a luxury commodity
0:41:32 > 0:41:33in the hands of the rich,
0:41:33 > 0:41:37sometimes it disappears from sight.
0:41:37 > 0:41:41Now, this is a reproduction of the real thing.
0:41:41 > 0:41:44Picasso painted Boy With a Pipe when he was 24,
0:41:44 > 0:41:47and he'd recently moved to Paris and had next to nothing.
0:41:47 > 0:41:50When Picasso put the finishing touches to Boy With a Pipe,
0:41:50 > 0:41:53he could never in a million years
0:41:53 > 0:41:58have conceived that one day his painting would be worth so much.
0:41:58 > 0:42:02In 2004, Boy With a Pipe was offered at auction
0:42:02 > 0:42:08and sold for £104 million, placing this at number two in our list.
0:42:10 > 0:42:14So Picasso's at number three, and number two in my top ten.
0:42:14 > 0:42:18In fact, he occupies all three top slots.
0:42:18 > 0:42:21And that is because Picasso is much more than a painter.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23He's the ultimate luxury brand.
0:42:33 > 0:42:37Nowhere is this more evident than in Las Vegas.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41Sin City is the last place you'd come looking for fine art,
0:42:41 > 0:42:42you might think.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46But actually, a lot of the people who built Vegas
0:42:46 > 0:42:49covet works of art by Pablo Picasso.
0:42:49 > 0:42:52And if you think about it, it is a match made in heaven.
0:42:52 > 0:42:56Because Vegas is the most extravagant monument to money imaginable.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59And Picasso? Well, he's famous
0:42:59 > 0:43:03for being the most expensive artist in the world.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11In fact the billionaire property developer who built this place,
0:43:11 > 0:43:14the luxury Bellagio hotel and casino,
0:43:14 > 0:43:16also amassed an equally extraordinary
0:43:16 > 0:43:18collection of Picassos.
0:43:18 > 0:43:20His name is Steve Wynn.
0:43:27 > 0:43:29Walk through the heart of the casino
0:43:29 > 0:43:32and in among the slot machines and gaming tables
0:43:32 > 0:43:38you'll find an art gallery, and a Picasso "fine dining experience".
0:43:38 > 0:43:42Most of the Bellagio's Picassos are here in the restaurant,
0:43:42 > 0:43:43which Steve Wynn designed,
0:43:43 > 0:43:47along with Picasso's own son Claude, who did the carpet.
0:43:47 > 0:43:49There genuinely are Picassos everywhere.
0:43:49 > 0:43:52There's a huge one over there, there's one here from 1917,
0:43:52 > 0:43:56this is from 1971 and every detail is linked, of course, to Picasso.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59Even the plates, which are closely modelled
0:43:59 > 0:44:01on his own designs for his ceramics.
0:44:03 > 0:44:06- Bon appetit.- Thank you.
0:44:06 > 0:44:07It is a little bit ironic
0:44:07 > 0:44:09that these two still lives of flowers and fruit,
0:44:09 > 0:44:12hanging behind me, are here at all.
0:44:12 > 0:44:15Because Picasso painted them during the war,
0:44:15 > 0:44:18when he was living in Nazi-occupied Paris
0:44:18 > 0:44:20and food was impossibly scarce.
0:44:20 > 0:44:23Now, they are backdrops for lavish banquets.
0:44:23 > 0:44:26But I don't think the Belaggio really cares whether or not
0:44:26 > 0:44:28you study the Picassos in here.
0:44:28 > 0:44:34You're just supposed to bathe in the aura of exclusivity they project.
0:44:34 > 0:44:38I guess it makes a kind of sense for one of the smartest restaurants
0:44:38 > 0:44:40in a city obsessed with money
0:44:40 > 0:44:44to have paintings worth tens of millions of dollars on the walls.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47But it's hard not to wonder what has become of art
0:44:47 > 0:44:49when it is nothing more than decoration
0:44:49 > 0:44:53for the fabulously wealthy, like overblown wallpaper.
0:44:53 > 0:44:57I'm Steve Wynn, and this is my new hotel.
0:44:57 > 0:45:00The only one I've ever signed my name to.
0:45:04 > 0:45:08Steve Wynn paid for his new hotel by selling the Belaggio,
0:45:08 > 0:45:10along with all those Picassos.
0:45:10 > 0:45:14But he did hold onto one, his favourite, Picasso's La Reve.
0:45:14 > 0:45:17Which not only inspired the new hotel,
0:45:17 > 0:45:22but nearly became the most expensive painting in the world.
0:45:22 > 0:45:25Wynn suffers from a degenerative eye condition,
0:45:25 > 0:45:28and he's slowly losing his sight.
0:45:28 > 0:45:32In 2006, he agreed to sell La Reve - which means The Dream -
0:45:32 > 0:45:35for 139 million.
0:45:35 > 0:45:37But before the deal was done,
0:45:37 > 0:45:41he put his elbow through the canvas and suddenly, the deal was off.
0:45:41 > 0:45:45We stood there, in shock. I can't believe I've done it. Oh no.
0:45:45 > 0:45:49Oh no. And then I said, "Thank God it was me and not someone else."
0:45:52 > 0:45:54It's easy to find his hotel, obviously.
0:45:54 > 0:45:59But the man and the painting are far harder to track down.
0:46:00 > 0:46:04Now, I was hoping that Mr Wynn would invite us into his house
0:46:04 > 0:46:07and I could see The Dream hanging on his wall.
0:46:07 > 0:46:09But his people refused the interview,
0:46:09 > 0:46:12so instead, I've come here, just outside Vegas.
0:46:12 > 0:46:14I've brought along this colour reproduction of The Dream,
0:46:14 > 0:46:19and you can see that it is an erotic fantasy, really.
0:46:19 > 0:46:22It's a picture of Picasso's mistress, Marie-Therese Walter.
0:46:22 > 0:46:24Her head is nodding off to one side
0:46:24 > 0:46:28as she's dropping into the unconscious and starting to dream.
0:46:28 > 0:46:31You can see her full face and also a profile.
0:46:31 > 0:46:33And if you see just the profile of her face, there,
0:46:33 > 0:46:36you're left with this other quite suggestive shape.
0:46:36 > 0:46:38Which I think is Picasso's way of saying
0:46:38 > 0:46:40that she has sex on the brain.
0:46:43 > 0:46:45The Dream is one of Picasso's finest paintings
0:46:45 > 0:46:49but Steve Wynn may have bought it in part because of its previous owner.
0:46:49 > 0:46:51We're back to provenance.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55Except this time, it is not a billionaire collector,
0:46:55 > 0:46:57but a middle-class New York family
0:46:57 > 0:47:01who amassed an extraordinary collection of Picassos.
0:47:01 > 0:47:03What is considered the most important
0:47:03 > 0:47:0720th century art collection ever offered at auction
0:47:07 > 0:47:09shattered a record at Christie's in New York City last night.
0:47:09 > 0:47:12The collection of Victor and Sally Ganz
0:47:12 > 0:47:14raked in more than 206 million,
0:47:14 > 0:47:18and that sets a record for a single owner auction.
0:47:18 > 0:47:2157 items sold, the collectors' children
0:47:21 > 0:47:23put the masterpieces up for sale
0:47:23 > 0:47:27after Sally Ganz died earlier this year.
0:47:30 > 0:47:33This is a book that Christie's produced, just before the sale.
0:47:33 > 0:47:38What they were trying to convey was something about my parents,
0:47:38 > 0:47:40and the way they collected art.
0:47:40 > 0:47:42So the way this book works is it goes through all the artists
0:47:42 > 0:47:45they collected, one by one.
0:47:45 > 0:47:48And so, if you look at Picasso, you'll just see, you know...
0:47:48 > 0:47:53- Well there's The Dream.- There's The Dream!- But all of these pictures...?
0:47:53 > 0:47:56They owned, yes. Here's this.
0:47:56 > 0:47:59- This one is this one!- Yes!
0:47:59 > 0:48:02This is Winter Landscape, 1950.
0:48:02 > 0:48:06- There they are.- My parents when they were getting married.
0:48:06 > 0:48:10They were married in 1941.
0:48:10 > 0:48:14And in 1942, which was two years before I was born,
0:48:14 > 0:48:15they bought The Dream.
0:48:15 > 0:48:19That was a very, very bold, brave and big purchase for them.
0:48:19 > 0:48:21Do you know how much it cost them?
0:48:21 > 0:48:25- It cost 7,000. - And to put that in context...
0:48:25 > 0:48:26To put it in context,
0:48:26 > 0:48:30the rent on the apartment they had was 300 a month.
0:48:30 > 0:48:36- So it cost more than two years' rent.- Right. That's an investment.
0:48:36 > 0:48:38It sounds like the way you're talking,
0:48:38 > 0:48:40that The Dream was one of the early purchases?
0:48:40 > 0:48:42It was the first thing they bought.
0:48:42 > 0:48:45That was the first work of art they bought, the Dream by Picasso?
0:48:45 > 0:48:48He saw the painting, he felt totally in love with it,
0:48:48 > 0:48:50the way you fall in love with a person.
0:48:50 > 0:48:51Couldn't get it out of his mind,
0:48:51 > 0:48:54and figured they had to scrape together the money
0:48:54 > 0:48:56and give up other things in order to buy it.
0:48:56 > 0:48:58What did your mum and dad do?
0:48:58 > 0:49:02How did they afford to be able to buy the art that they bought?
0:49:02 > 0:49:05My father was in the costume jewellery business,
0:49:05 > 0:49:07which he had inherited,
0:49:07 > 0:49:11and my mother didn't work, as women didn't work in those days.
0:49:11 > 0:49:12They didn't have much money,
0:49:12 > 0:49:15they didn't have savings, they had a rent-controlled apartment.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18And my father fell in love with Picasso.
0:49:18 > 0:49:22It sounds like they weren't buying for investment at all.
0:49:22 > 0:49:23Oh, not at all.
0:49:23 > 0:49:27How would you describe the motivations that drove him
0:49:27 > 0:49:29to buy these works?
0:49:29 > 0:49:30Love.
0:49:39 > 0:49:43How did you feel when it came to the sales?
0:49:43 > 0:49:45Very sad.
0:49:45 > 0:49:48First of all, right after, my mother died,
0:49:48 > 0:49:53we were inundated with people you can imagine, teams of people,
0:49:53 > 0:49:57people from Sotheby's, Christie's, people from England, Japan,
0:49:57 > 0:50:00people from all over, descending on the house,
0:50:00 > 0:50:03and that was a fairly uncomfortable situation.
0:50:03 > 0:50:06- Shameless, though?- That's what they do. That's their job.
0:50:06 > 0:50:10- Does this happen all the time? - Oh, of course.
0:50:10 > 0:50:12Believe me, now it's all computerised,
0:50:12 > 0:50:14but they have on their computer,
0:50:14 > 0:50:17the 50 most important collectors in the world,
0:50:17 > 0:50:18where their works of art are,
0:50:18 > 0:50:21how old they are, when they're about to die,
0:50:21 > 0:50:23who's going to inherit what, they know all this.
0:50:23 > 0:50:27- It's a deathwatch!- As my mother used to say, the vultures are circling.
0:50:27 > 0:50:30Oh, the sale room is such a morbid place -
0:50:30 > 0:50:33it's about death and divorce.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37Was it a necessity, in the sense that there are a number of things
0:50:37 > 0:50:38like taxes, death duty, and so on?
0:50:38 > 0:50:41There was one big fat thing, called tax.
0:50:41 > 0:50:46In America at that time the taxes were about 55 per cent.
0:50:46 > 0:50:49So if you'd retained a painting like The Dream,
0:50:49 > 0:50:53you'd have had to pay 55 or 60 per cent to the taxman of its value,
0:50:53 > 0:50:55as perceived by the auction house?
0:50:55 > 0:50:56Right.
0:50:56 > 0:50:58How did you feel when you subsequently learnt
0:50:58 > 0:51:02that The Dream ended up in the possession of Steve Wynn,
0:51:02 > 0:51:05who by all accounts is a very different man
0:51:05 > 0:51:07to the man your father was?
0:51:07 > 0:51:10Steve Wynn, I've met him, he's a very nice man.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12I'm sorry that he put his elbow through the painting.
0:51:12 > 0:51:14That was unfortunate.
0:51:14 > 0:51:17But I do remember, it was in an exhibition in New York
0:51:17 > 0:51:19a couple of years ago,
0:51:19 > 0:51:23and the director of the gallery said the repair is so skilful,
0:51:23 > 0:51:26that no-one has been able to see where it is.
0:51:26 > 0:51:29I went into the gallery, and I went into the room,
0:51:29 > 0:51:31it was way down at the other end,
0:51:31 > 0:51:35and as I started to walk down the room - nobody else was in there,
0:51:35 > 0:51:37I could see immediately where it was.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40Where was it, out of interest? Because I've heard various things.
0:51:40 > 0:51:42It's... Well, you can't see it.
0:51:42 > 0:51:45Here's a picture of my son standing in front of it,
0:51:45 > 0:51:48but it's down, behind, right around there.
0:51:48 > 0:51:52- Her left forearm? - It's right about there, actually.
0:51:52 > 0:51:54I don't know how big the hole is,
0:51:54 > 0:51:57but the scar that you can see is about that big.
0:51:57 > 0:52:00I mean, in a sense, here's a painting that had survived,
0:52:00 > 0:52:03intact and being looked after and loved in your family
0:52:03 > 0:52:05for many decades,
0:52:05 > 0:52:07and it's in someone else's possession,
0:52:07 > 0:52:09and it's suddenly damaged.
0:52:09 > 0:52:11Well...
0:52:12 > 0:52:13You know...
0:52:13 > 0:52:16it really, it fundamentally doesn't change the picture.
0:52:16 > 0:52:19Changed the value of the picture!
0:52:19 > 0:52:22I think the picture is more important than the money, so...
0:52:22 > 0:52:24When you hear sums like that
0:52:24 > 0:52:26attached to works of art, can you justify that?
0:52:26 > 0:52:27How do you feel?
0:52:27 > 0:52:29No, I think it's very sad.
0:52:29 > 0:52:33When you think what else you could do with that money in this world.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37I think it's ridiculous. When you say, how much money is it worth?
0:52:37 > 0:52:40Then it's not about the art anymore.
0:52:41 > 0:52:44Certainly the prices paid for our top 10 paintings
0:52:44 > 0:52:46are not just about the art.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49They reflect provenance and attribution,
0:52:49 > 0:52:50buying for investment,
0:52:50 > 0:52:53and buying to make a grand statement.
0:52:53 > 0:52:56Only very occasionally are they all about love.
0:52:56 > 0:52:5958 million, 59 million.
0:52:59 > 0:53:0260 million, 61 million.
0:53:02 > 0:53:08In May 2010, another Picasso came onto the market.
0:53:08 > 0:53:1072 million, 73 million.
0:53:10 > 0:53:14And this painting became the most expensive work of art
0:53:14 > 0:53:16ever sold at auction.
0:53:19 > 0:53:22I was thrilled to be involved with it.
0:53:22 > 0:53:27It hadn't been seen for 50 years, most Picasso scholars today
0:53:27 > 0:53:31had not seen the picture, so it was, in that respect, thrilling.
0:53:31 > 0:53:3295 million.
0:53:32 > 0:53:36It's an incredibly complex and beautiful work of art.
0:53:36 > 0:53:39And selling at 95 million.
0:53:40 > 0:53:45At number one in our top 10, it's Nude, Green Leaves & Bust,
0:53:45 > 0:53:49with the buyer's premium taking it way past the 100 million mark
0:53:49 > 0:53:51to 106,482,500.
0:53:56 > 0:53:59So who can afford to pay such a colossal amount of money
0:53:59 > 0:54:02for a painting?
0:54:02 > 0:54:03I have heard a rumour
0:54:03 > 0:54:07that the most expensive painting ever sold at auction -
0:54:07 > 0:54:11Nude, Green Leaves & Bust by Picasso - was bought by a Russian.
0:54:11 > 0:54:13Is that something that you know about?
0:54:15 > 0:54:18As far as I understand, it was bought by a Georgian.
0:54:19 > 0:54:22But I can't say anything else!
0:54:24 > 0:54:29Whoever has bought it has also done something rather rare.
0:54:29 > 0:54:34They've agreed to lend it to Tate Modern in London for two years.
0:54:34 > 0:54:37The price it achieved gives it an aura.
0:54:37 > 0:54:41Maybe when people look at it now, all they see are pound signs.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44But actually, it really is quite a phenomenal work.
0:54:44 > 0:54:46It might not be the best painting in the world,
0:54:46 > 0:54:50but it's strong, self-confident, and sophisticated.
0:54:51 > 0:54:55It belongs to the same sequence of paintings as The Dream,
0:54:55 > 0:54:57the one that Steve Wynn poked his elbow through.
0:54:57 > 0:54:59And like that canvas,
0:54:59 > 0:55:03its subject is the artist's blonde voluptuousness mistress.
0:55:03 > 0:55:08Picasso was 50 when he painted this. Marie-Therese was only 22.
0:55:08 > 0:55:09They'd met five years earlier,
0:55:09 > 0:55:12when Picasso stopped Marie-Therese, who was 17,
0:55:12 > 0:55:15in the street outside a department store in Paris,
0:55:15 > 0:55:19and said, "I am Picasso, I'd like to do a portrait of you
0:55:19 > 0:55:22"and I feel we're going to do great things together."
0:55:22 > 0:55:24And by Marie Therese's own admission,
0:55:24 > 0:55:26they were sleeping together within a week.
0:55:26 > 0:55:27Looking at this picture,
0:55:27 > 0:55:31you can tell that Picasso fell head over heels, because if anything,
0:55:31 > 0:55:35Nude, Green Leaves & Bust is the most lavish picture
0:55:35 > 0:55:38about the rapturous dividends of a mid-life crisis.
0:55:38 > 0:55:44This is about sexual fulfilment, it's about illicit sensual bliss.
0:55:44 > 0:55:48Marie-Therese's flesh here, which is this radiant lilac,
0:55:48 > 0:55:52such a contrast to the predominantly dark blue background,
0:55:52 > 0:55:55is so pliant and soft, and spherical,
0:55:55 > 0:55:59just like the fiery orange red fruit in the bottom right-hand corner,
0:55:59 > 0:56:02as though she's something to be consumed,
0:56:02 > 0:56:04like a big, puffy pink marshmallow.
0:56:05 > 0:56:07But there is one detail about this painting
0:56:07 > 0:56:10that I find ever-so-slightly sinister.
0:56:10 > 0:56:11If you look very carefully,
0:56:11 > 0:56:14in between the plaster bust and the plant,
0:56:14 > 0:56:18you can just make out a very dark, shadowy profile
0:56:18 > 0:56:19that's a self-portrait,
0:56:19 > 0:56:24as though the artist himself is part of that blue curtain,
0:56:24 > 0:56:27watching over his lover, guarding her, enveloping her.
0:56:27 > 0:56:29And Picasso supposedly said,
0:56:29 > 0:56:34"For me there are only two types of women, goddesses and doormats."
0:56:34 > 0:56:37But I think that here, Marie-Therese is both.
0:56:37 > 0:56:40She's a resplendent fertility goddess, if you like,
0:56:40 > 0:56:44but at the same time, she's positioned quite submissively,
0:56:44 > 0:56:47beneath both the artist and the viewer.
0:56:47 > 0:56:51And she's restrained by these two dark straps of shadow
0:56:51 > 0:56:54that have this slight hint of bondage.
0:56:54 > 0:57:00If you follow their lines, form two enormous Ps,
0:57:00 > 0:57:01one there and one inverted here,
0:57:01 > 0:57:05as though the artist is branding both the image and her body
0:57:05 > 0:57:06with his own initials -
0:57:06 > 0:57:09PP, for Pablo Picasso.
0:57:10 > 0:57:14When the owner looks at this painting, what do you think he sees?
0:57:14 > 0:57:17A love letter to a woman, perhaps.
0:57:18 > 0:57:23Or, a reflection of his own sexual prowess, and extraordinary wealth.
0:57:23 > 0:57:26What you can say for certain is that thankfully, here in a museum,
0:57:26 > 0:57:32a Picasso can be a work of art first, and a luxury object second.
0:57:32 > 0:57:34And that can only be a good thing.
0:57:34 > 0:57:38But if I were you, I'd take a good, long look at this painting
0:57:38 > 0:57:39while you can.
0:57:39 > 0:57:41Because there's no guarantee that its anonymous owner
0:57:41 > 0:57:44will keep it on public view indefinitely.
0:57:44 > 0:57:47It seems so unfair that our access
0:57:47 > 0:57:50to some of the world's greatest works of art
0:57:50 > 0:57:54depends upon the whims of the super-rich.
0:57:56 > 0:57:58Sadly, we can't enjoy
0:57:58 > 0:58:00some of the most precious paintings in the world,
0:58:00 > 0:58:03because so many of them are hidden in private vaults
0:58:03 > 0:58:06by the millionaires and billionaires that own them.
0:58:06 > 0:58:09But there are still thousands of paintings owned by us, all of us,
0:58:09 > 0:58:12and to find out more about paintings you can see for free near you,
0:58:12 > 0:58:15visit:
0:58:24 > 0:58:27Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:27 > 0:58:30E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk