Like a Million Bucks

Art and money have a complicated relationship. The “starving artist” works out of a sense of passion, without the expectation of getting rich. But some art is worth enormous sums. The most expensive artwork of all time sold for $450 million!

An artwork’s value often changes over time, depending on what else is happening in the world and in the art market. As a result, many artists turn to money as a subject to explore in their work. Read on to learn about three artists who play with the idea of money—with very surprising results!

If you could paint money so convincingly that people thought it was real, would you? William Michael Harnett (see page 5) did. And he got in a lot of trouble for it! His 1877 painting of a five-dollar bill, above, was confiscated, and he was arrested for creating counterfeit money. A judge released him on the condition that he never paint money again—and he never did!

Andy Warhol explored everyday objects, like soup cans, in his art. In the 1980s, he also created a series of dollar signs, an internationally recognized symbol for money. The American Pop artist was interested in art as a commodity (something that can be bought and sold). He once said, “I like money on the wall,” and with his Dollar Sign, above, he made that possible.

In 2004, British artist Banksy printed 100,000 ten-pound bills and dropped them in busy spots in London. He replaced the face of Queen Elizabeth II with that of Princess Diana, who died in 1997 and was openly critical of British royalty. On his Di-Faced Tenner, left, he also replaced “Bank of England” with “Banksy of England.” He planned to distribute all the notes, but he soon realized people were actually trying to use them and he could be arrested for making counterfeit money!