Mark Tansey, The Enunciation (1992)

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When collectors pay $10 million, $100 million or more for a numinous Picasso, Giacometti or Van Gogh, what are they buying? What value does the artist add through labor, vision, experience and, ultimately, signature? Why do objects with a peripheral or disputed association with a bankable body of work take on something of the aura of medieval relics?

Who was R. Mutt?