10 Ridiculous Artworks That Cost a Fortune

You may even think it’s strange, but the truth is that there’s a lot of strange things out there that have been turned into works of art. For example, a leather cup and saucer, a spiked iron, a urinal and even a jar of human excrement. It all depends on what you mean by art. All these objects were well received by the critics and the public, in proof that the artistic eye can fall on even the weirdest objects.

O awesome.club brings you a small collection of unusual artworks, which earned their creators fame and money.

A cup, a saucer and a spoon, all covered in natural skin, granted worldwide fame to a surrealist artist from Switzerland in 1936. The composition has become a classic of surrealism and Dadaism, as it combines what is incompatible and defies common sense.

The work is currently in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Apparently, the years passed without the piece being attacked by insects. So, if it were auctioned, the work would certainly fetch thousands of dollars.

The Italian conceptual artist claimed that his design is based on the belief that buyers “only like shit”. Each of the numbered cans (there are 90 in total) is believed to contain 30 grams of Manzoni’s own feces, but according to his colleague, artist Agostino Bonalumi, the jars contain only plaster.

The inscriptions in Italian, English, French and German read: “Artist shit. Content: 30 grams. Naturally preserved. Produced and packaged in May 1961.” As for the cost, initially the price was the same as a gold bar with the same mass: 37 dollars. But on May 23, 2017, one of the cans sold for €124,000 at a Sotheby’s auction.

As you can guess from the title, the photo shows the Rhine, the most important river in Germany. It’s interesting how every detail of the landscape (a power station, port facilities and a man walking his dog) has been digitally erased. But not even the retouching prevented Gursky’s work from becoming a recognized icon, and the second most expensive photo ever sold in the world. The image sold for $4.3 million and was second only to Peter Lik’s “Phantom” photograph ($6.5 million).

Defects usually compromise works of art, but not in Lucho Fontana’s case. The artist specialized in paintings with many cuts, several of which were sold at astronomical prices. The masterpiece you see in the photo was sold in 2012 at an auction at Christie’s in London for $1.5 million. However, compared to the price of other paintings, the price was even reasonable.

Since we’re talking about paintings, it would be unfair to ignore Malevich’s famous “Black Square”. Not everyone knows, but there are two other basic squares by the same artist: red and white. And there are also other paintings from the same series: “Black Circle”, “Black Cross”, as well as several versions of the original made by Malevich himself, different in texture and color.

The painting is currently in a museum and not for sale, but according to Sotheby’s auction house, the value of the “Black Square” can be estimated at $20 million.

It is one of Dalí’s most famous works, with a meaning yet to be deciphered. Why, after all, would the artist need to disfigure the beautiful Venus using drawers? Probably, Dalí tried to represent one person’s attempt to “penetrate the facade” of another, to understand what he hides in his soul.

The sculpture is in a museum, but it’s easy to imagine that private collectors would pay millions for it. The cast of Venus, by the way, was made by Marcel Duchamp, a colleague of Dalí’s and no less eccentric than he. You can see his masterpiece at the end of this post.

This unusual object became art in an accidental way. The artist planned to use it as a gift to the poet Philippe Soupault, who owns a gallery in Paris, but changed his mind and included the work in his exhibition. The “Gift” became incredibly popular, inspiring the production of multiple copies (like the one pictured). As other works by Man Ray have sold for millions of dollars, it’s easy to assume that the spiked iron would also fetch a considerable amount.

The painting resembles children’s scribbles or a sheet of paper on which someone has tested a pen. But apparently true connoisseurs of the fine arts see something more in Twombly. Otherwise, how could you explain the fact that the painting “Untitled” raised $70 million in an auction that Sotheby’s held in 2015?

Unlike the previous artist, North American Christopher Wool prefers not to use chaotic scrawls, but rather clear, well-profiled letters. Despite the apparent simplicity, the works of this artist do not come cheap. The frame in the photo above sold for $5 million. Unfortunately, another Wool work suffered at the hands of an unknown vandal. In May 2017, at an exhibition at the Opera Gallery in Aspen, a masked man destroyed the painting “Untitled 2004”, valued at $3 million.

As you can see, “The Fountain” is a common urinal with the signature “R. Mutt” (R. Tonto). It may seem incredible, but the object was recognized as the best work of its time, being considered of great importance for the art of the 20th century.

The artist himself reacted to the popularity of his creation saying: “I threw a shelf with a urinal in everyone’s face, and now its aesthetic perfection is admired.”

The original of “The Fountain” has disappeared. It is believed to have been thrown away as if it were rubbish. But one of the copies of the work was sold in 1999 at a Sotheby’s auction for $1.7 million.