So I am not saying that this is necessarily a bad investment. I'd buy art over most of the crap that people buy. However, I do think this is smells like peak art... even a rush to get out of fiat, maybe. What can you buy for that much money? Sure you could buy land, but land can be taken away and doesn't cross borders. This is $0.5B that can be carried. If you want to take your wealth through WWIII, this is a reasonable buy.
The Louvre Abu Dhabi opened a week ago. They paid the Louvre $525m for the rights to the name, and are paying another $800m for access to the Louvre's back collection. It may be a "questionable" da Vinci but right now it's also the second most famous Da Vinci in the world (probably; Head of a Woman might be up there, too, and it's also considered "generally accepted" as da Vinci). And they're already calling it the "male Mona Lisa." On Thursday morning, soon after the final sale was announced, Mr. Liu posted a message on his WeChat social media feed. “Da Vinci’s Savior sold for 400 million USD, congratulations to the buyer,” he wrote. “Feeling kind of defeated right now.” I'm betting it's not a hedge. It's a tourist attraction. Mark my words.There was speculation that Liu Yiqian, a Chinese billionaire and co-founder with his wife of the Long Museum in Shanghai, may have been among the bidders. In recent years, the former taxi-driver-turned-power collector has become known for his splashy, record-breaking art purchases, including an Amedeo Modigliani nude painting for $170.4 million at a Christie’s auction in 2015. But in a message sent to a reporter via WeChat, a Chinese messaging app, Mr. Liu said he was not among the bidders for the Leonardo.
Whether or not this is a good investment is sorta irrelevant. This is a priceless, once in a lifetime buy. I don't see anything questionable about it. Every old master employed students to help. Hell. There's a painting that's important because Leonard might have painted part of it as a student. It's like 500 years old. Damn right it will have been restored. The Last Supper might have more restoration work than original at this point and that thing is just going to go away at some point because he painted it stupid. Honestly I can't even believe there are Leonardos in private collection at this point.