Marketplace®
Every story is an economic story

Happy birthday Picasso

This week in 1881, the world's best-selling painter was born. Stacey Vanek-Smith looks at the ongoing appeal of Pablo Picasso.

TEXT OF STORY

MARK AUSTIN THOMAS: Time for a look back at business history. When we open the vault, we find artist Pablo Picasso whose birthday is this week. Stacey Vanek-Smith reports.


STACEY VANEK-SMITH: Pablo Picasso was born in Spain this week back in 1881.

As a young man, he moved Paris where he quickly established himself as an important artist.

He also embraced the media. That helped him became an international celebrity and the richest artist in the world with dealers competing to sell his worka€¦as Illustrated in the film, Surviving Picasso.

[ Now in New York, I can sell everything that you give me in five minutes just like that.
How much?
For more than any painter alive today!
More than Matisse? ]

Picasso was notoriously cheap, but when he died at age 91 his estate was worth more than a billion in today’s dollars.

And he’s still raking it in. Boy with a Pipe holds the title of the most expensive painting ever sold at auction. The price tag? $104 million.

I’m Stacey Vanek-Smith.

Latest Episodes

View All Shows
  • Marketplace
    an hour ago
    25:20
  • Marketplace Morning Report
    8 hours ago
    6:23
  • Marketplace Tech
    14 hours ago
    11:06
  • Million Bazillion
    2 days ago
    27:55
  • This Is Uncomfortable
    7 days ago
    27:11
  • Make Me Smart
    4 months ago
    24:33