Blasting Photons

Visitors to Visionary at Christie’s last week were not only overwhelmed by the estimated $1.5 billion dollars “worth” of art, but also by the blinding degree of effort that went into selling it. The show was a who’s who from the fifteenth century to the present, from Botticelli and Brueghel to Hopper and Hockney. Amassed over thirty-plus years by the late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, the works did not have much to tie them together other than the “estimate available upon request” tags and the mega-watt, stadium lighting. Each canvas was lit by a carefully flagged and computer-controlled theatrical light, to mixed results. While Monet glowed and Klimt glistened, Maxfield Parrish resembled a ’70s blacklight poster. The collection was on view for eleven days before the two-day auction, an all-too-brief window for works that likely will never be seen in public again. Yet, with the number of photons blasting the canvases perhaps it’s best that they’re leaving Christie’s. Any longer and they would all be Lot 18, a pale Agnes Martin.