The New York Times reported that nearly $1 billion was spent on contemporary art just last week The lion’s share of the transactions occurred at Sotheby’s and Christie’s. The former sold art for $375 million while the latter reported sales of $412 million.  

When businessmen in dark suits compete wildly over pictures by painters who explicitly cultivated the art of the absurd or spread paint across their canvases with no easily identifiable purpose, this tells you something about the state of the world economy.