As the saying goes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the beholder sometimes values beauty a whole lot more when it’s hanging in a museum than in an IKEA showroom.
Life Hunters TV conducted a little experiment at Museum Arnhem, an art museum in the Netherlands, to see if an IKEA print’s proximity to valuable art would drive up its perceived value:
…Boris Lange from Life Hunters TV took a €10 (£7) Ikea print to the Dutch Arnhem Museum and pretended it was one of the multi-million pound works of art on display.
Supposed art experts nodded along as Lange explained that the piece was by a new artist Ike Andrews (IKEA-ndrews, get it?), and when Lange asked their opinion of the piece and its artist, they showered Ike Andrews with praise:
“It’s a depiction of chaos in the mind.”
“It’s modern. It’s shocking.”
“It’s especially a beautiful spirit of an artist who can put all his emotions in this painting.”
“Dear me, it’s unbelievable.”
One patron shared this keen observation:
“You can clearly see that it concerns a form of symbolism.”
The value of the piece was estimated by patrons to range from €1,000 up to €2.5 million, compared to the actual value of €10 at IKEA.
Most of the participants had a sense of humor when the truth was revealed, but at least one patron looked like he wanted to pummel Lange for selling him on a most excellent and affordable painting.
Source: Metro News