What Are They Paying For, Anyway?

Another art sales record was broken this month when a Picasso sold for over $100 million. But do such absurd sale prices actually tell us anything about the quality of art? “Such news always engenders in hearers the notion that something about the art has to justify the price in the way that the number of carats determines the value of diamonds. But it’s much more complicated than that, as the appeal of art objects depends on many factors apart from aesthetics.”