The art market is disgustingly inflated, yes – but surprisingly meritocratic | Jonathan Jones

Marlene Dumas isn’t the only artist to feel anxious about the money. Fortunately, though, it tends to be the best who benefit

Art prices are among the most awful, repulsive, and sickening aspects of modern culture. There is no equivalent in any other field for the ostentatious extravagance of art collectors in a world that unapologetically confuses luxury and aesthetic appreciation.

Literature, theatre and grand opera are ascetic practices compared with the art world, where the current record for the most expensive painting ever sold stands at $250,000,000. It’s a world where money is increasingly hard to separate from “serious” values, as commercial events such as the Frieze art fair are treated like public institutions, and where David Hickey, a leading critical champion of what he once called “the big, beautiful art market”, retired in disgust after finding that rampant greed is not so beautiful after all.

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