The Broadway revival of Yasmina Reza's acclaimed play 'Art' this fall arrives at a particularly compelling moment for the contemporary art world. The production stars Neil Patrick Harris, James Corden, and Bobby Cannavale as three friends whose relationship is tested when one purchases what appears to be a blank canvas - actually an avant-garde painting by a famous artist - for a steep price.
The 90-minute comedy-drama explores fundamental questions about both human relationships and the art world itself. Over the course of their heated conversation, the characters grapple with how brutally honest friends can be with each other while maintaining their bonds. More provocatively, the play examines whether aesthetic value has become inextricably linked to market price, as Guardian critic Michael Billington noted in 2016.
When the play premiered in Paris in 1994, the art market was experiencing similar tensions to today's climate. The art world was dealing with the aftermath of the explosive 1980s market, which saw unprecedented headlines about record-breaking sales. Notable examples included Japanese businessman Ryoei Saito paying $82.5 million for Van Gogh's 'Portrait of Dr. Gachet' and dealer Arne Glimcher selling a Jasper Johns painting to the Whitney Museum for $1 million - remarkable at the time for a living artist.
The intervening decades have only intensified these market dynamics. The art world has witnessed the boom of the early 2000s, followed by an even larger surge from 2011 to 2023, highlighted by a Leonardo da Vinci painting selling for $450 million. The rise of speculation on works by emerging artists has become particularly contentious, with critics expressing alarm at the phenomenon.
New York Times critic Jason Farago captured this sentiment in a 2022 piece titled 'Catch a Rising Star at the Auction House,' describing his reaction to watching young artists' works sell for millions at major evening sales as 'like anaphylactic shock.' He wrote that witnessing 'the total, and possibly permanent, supersedure of the old establishment by speculative hype' left him feeling as if he were 'no longer alive at all.'
For the current Broadway production, director Scott Ellis faced the challenge of updating the painting's price to reflect contemporary market realities. In Reza's original script, the controversial artwork cost 200,000 francs, equivalent to less than $60,000 today. After consulting with a curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Ellis settled on $300,000 for the new production - approximately what collectors paid for works by artists like Lesley Vance at Art Basel Miami Beach last December.
The $300,000 price tag raises intriguing questions about contemporary art valuation. In today's market, where some collectors are calling primary market prices 'irrational,' determining what constitutes expensive has become increasingly subjective. As Vogue writer Adrienne Miller observed about the updated price, 'It's a big number and it feels horribly correct. In an era where everything is hyperbolic and inflated - cost, expertise, ego, outrage - the price had to rise accordingly.'
The play's climax involves an act of vandalism that serves as the ultimate expression of the characters' conflict over art and money. This dramatic resolution reflects the broader tensions within today's art world, where questions about the relationship between artistic merit and market value remain as relevant as ever.
