Robert Hughes' main point in his documentary rant against the contemporary art world is that art is no longer just for viewing pleasure but more for financial gain. He blames this problem on Leonardo DiVinci's painting, The Mona Lisa, which made it's way to New York from the Louvre in Paris, for a short stay in the 1960's. Hughes claims that when The Mona Lisa came to America, people began going to see art work just so they could say they saw it, not because they were actually interested in the art. He states in his documentary, that art quickly became more celebrity than art, and that art collectors stopped collecting art because they liked it, and started collecting art because they thought that they could make a lot of money quickly. While I think that Robert Hughes definitely has a good point, and being an art critic, he's obviously well educated on the topic, I feel that his documentary was a bit dramatic. He acted like great art is non-existent in the contemporary world, and although there are artists, like Damien Hirst, who don't create their own art and who are seemingly in it for the money, there are artists that create art because it is what they love to do. There are also art collectors who still collect art because they love it as well.
-Steph
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