Taste Determines Demand. Demand determines Value. Now, About Picasso.

By: Frank Yunker

Date: 2016-09-08

One of the determinants of demand is taste. Everyone has a sense of taste, style or preference that would push them to purchase one good over another. Price, of course, is the factor that determines whether the sale actually happens, but demand is also affected by other people's perceived preferences. I was under the impression the world thought Picasso was a talented artist. I'd never seen anything by him that impressed me, but what do I know about art? I traveled to Barcelona just to find out.

Our ticket allowed us into the “temporary exhibit” and after viewing the exhibit, I realized why it was temporary. If that was all you viewed, you would assume Picasso was a talent-less eleventh grader who no social skills who spends all of math class drooling over what it might look like if one day his wildest dreams cam true and a woman – not a particularly beautiful one – offered to undress in front of him.

In other words, it was a collection of pencil sketches that contained at least one naked lady per drawing. Graphic caricatures, it was obvious that Picasso had an obsession with sex.

For me, I found the temporary exhibit fascinating... not for the art, but for the patrons. I watched the people view the doodlings and generally speaking they appeared as under-impressed as I. A few people took the time to discuss, but not much more than a passing comment. Eleventh grade doodlings from math class are not worthy of much comment.

Next came the permanent collection. Picasso was born in 1882 and these were paintings - portraits - done in the 1890's, that were phenomenal. In the collection, there were no more than a half-dozen, but they showed a talent for life-like portraits in the age before commonplace camera.

His landscape of that same era displayed that not-so-unique talent of impressionism. Like the landscapes I've personally painted, details are lacking and the most oft-quoted comment was it "looks good from a distance."

So, Picasso was a rising teen age sensation who painted a few good portraits - not exceptional, but promising - and then he threw it all away to contemplate his and other people's naval.

In today's terms, the work of Picasso can be compared to this: Imagine 17-year-old Tiger Woods finishes in the top ten at Augusta National as an amateur and then he spends his whole adult life playing mini-golf.

One drawing, proudly displayed, consisted of a stick figure of a bull. Fourteen thousand year old cave paintings displayed more talent. I saw one drawing that some art critic might argue was filled with bold lines radiating from various points in the drawing to represent the inter-connectedness of one person to another, but I'm pretty sure Picasso drew it in 15 minutes, realized it was garbage, and then he crossed it all out. One of his devotees probably pulled it from the trash and framed it.

The museum itself allowed no photography. Of course not. If the world got a chance to view the massive collection of middle school art (our kids did a Piccaso-esque art project in 4th grade), perhaps demand for Picasso paintings or sketches would fall... to zero.