The Art Market is a Scam (And Rich People Run It)

Wendover Productions · 3.2M views · 2021-10-05 · 22:44

Open on YouTube ↗

If playback is restricted in your region, try opening the original video. Use Mark watched to add it to your marked videos.

Overview

A Wendover Productions video on how the art market works, arguing that prices are driven by wealth, storage and tax mechanics rather than artistic value.

On Hacker News

Used to explain why contemporary art is expensive for money reasons rather than art reasons.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2021–2022

Topics

Business & economics (other)Visual arts, photography & architecture Microeconomics & behavioral economics

What people said

scrollaway · 2021-10 · Recommendation
Good time as ever to plug Wendover's recent video about how the art world works. [VIDEO] Seeing Sotheby's attach its name to NFTs confirms every suspicion i ever had about NFTs.
Read the original HN comment ↗

marginalia_nu · 2022-10 · Reference
> The people doing contemporary fine art with their audience are unaffected. It's not a particularly well hidden secret that the contemporary fine art is really not about the art or the artist. [VIDEO]
Read the original HN comment ↗

Balero · 2021-12 · Reference
I mean you are right, but that texture is doing a lot of work, since the Mona Lisa is about $850 million, and my solution is $0.0001 million, and indistinguishable at 15 meters. But either way, this doesn't distract from the main thrust of my point. Art is expensive for Money reasons, not art reasons. [VIDEO] [LINK]
Read the original HN comment ↗

Sources

Video by Wendover Productions, played through YouTube.

HN Library · Source license

Data and selection notes

HN summaries and labels may contain AI errors. HN dates refer to discussions, not video publication.

HN Library: HackerTube export (2026-10-31) and open-index/hacker-news. Upstream summaries and classifications may contain AI errors.

Views, duration and playback status refresh separately from the published catalog. When an update fails, existing data remains visible.

Selection checks

SaaS & AI candidates: Topic keywords do not match
Editor-approved picks: Editorial review is required

Rule matches identify candidates. They do not guarantee video quality or financial results.

About the library and its sources