The Art World's Best Kept Secret

This weekend, fine art dealers throughout the globe were stunned by reports that the most significant art sale the world has ever seen had taken place in secret early in 2011, the details of which have just been released.

The painting in question is the much-sought-after Card Players (or Les Joueurs des Cartes) by the French post-impressionist painter, Paul Cézanne, which had previously been in the possession of the Greek shipping magnate, George Embiricos. And the buyer? Why, none other than the seriously minted Qatari royal family.

George Embiricos

The very fact that the transaction has been kept under wraps for so long is astonishing. Since his death early last year, there has been intense interest in Embiricos’ extensive art collection - hardly surprising considering the tycoon had jealously guarded his paintings for many years, repeatedly refusing requests to lend them to some of the world’s leading art galleries and museums (to the extent that much of his collection had not been seen by the public in decades). Given this level of attention, it was simply inconceivable to many that a deal of this magnitude could be completed without a hint leaking to the press.

But, if the level of secrecy which surrounded the transaction had surprised the art market cognoscenti, they were to be confounded further by the revelation that the painting had changed hands for a staggering $250 million (£160 million). This huge price tag makes Card Players the most expensive painting ever sold – easily overtaking the previous record (a Jackson Pollack which had been bought by a Mexican financier for $140 million or £90 million).

Rothko's White Centre

Indeed, this is not the first time Qatar’s ruling family have parted with extravagant sums for works of art – they have recently bought Rothko’s White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose) for $73 million and a pill cabinet by Damian Hirst for $20 million.

All this has led to accusations that the Qatari royal family’s immense purchasing power is over-inflating prices in the fine art market, which, thanks to a scarcity of great works in private hands, is already ridiculously expensive.

And while there is some veracity in such sentiments, it should be noted that, unlike the George Embiricoses of the world, the Qataris intend to put their acquisitions on display to the public in Doha. To my mind, that is infinitely more preferable to having a treasure such as Card Players languishing forlornly, unseen and unappreciated, in some dusty private collection far away from an admiring public.

Damien Hirst ... mad genius or just plain mad?

Damien Hirst has always been controversial. Never before has an artist so polarized public opinion. He has been lauded as a genius and dismissed as a talentless hack in equal measure. His conceptual and installation artwork, which has included a bejeweled skull, a marinated shark and dissected bovines, have been described as both ground-breaking and pointless pop-art ... and much more besides.

However, the one thing that is not disputed is the enormity of his success, or the size of his bank account. In monetary terms at least, Hirst is the world's most successful artist ever. Full stop. Without question. And that degree of success demands a certain level of respect.

I have been fascinated by Hirst, the man not the artist, for a long time. I am absolutely not a fan of his work - in fact I find it, for the most part, repulsive. However, my intensely negative response to his art is what makes me interested in the man. Is he indeed a genius, or just an off-the-wall character who happened to get lucky in the fickle world of modern art? Is he motivated by art for art's sake or is he more concerned with his burgeoning personal wealth?

It was in the hope of answering some of these questions that I tuned into In Confidence on Sky Arts this week. In this rare interview, Hirst recounts tales from his childhood, when he wanted to be as good as another boy in his class at drawing dinosaurs. He describes his flirtation with the Beatles before becoming a full-fledged punk during a delinquent adolescence. He tells us how his mother destroyed his vinyl records by heating them on the gas cooker which bent them into the shape of flower-pots. He admits to "selling-out" by off-loading some of his work on Charles Saatchi.

Throughout the hour-long interview, he rarely answers the question asked, instead wandering off on tangents. He contradicts himself, or more correctly, gives several answers to one question. His memories are jumbled and vague. His sentences are mixed-up and fragmented. One suspects that his is a mind that works at warp-speed - there seems to be so much going on inside his head that his thoughts and ideas tumble out haphazardly. There is obviously a fierce intelligence hiding behind those weird blue-tinted glasses. But beyond that, he is still a mystery.

Is he mad? Yes. Eccentric? Most definitely. Talented? Possibly.

However, the one thing that we can all agree on is that Mr Damien Hirst is intensely interesting and more than a little intriguing. He remains an enigma, and therefore we remain curious. This is what will ensure he will remain in the spotlight for some time to come, even if the jury is still out on his work.