As we reported yesterday, the National Gallery’s interest in purchasing
Kandinsky’s Sketch For Deluge II was short-lived. The $35 million
purchase price was an almighty stumbling block, as gallery chairman
Harold Mitchell conceded.

Still, Mitchell is a canny operator, and while throwing cold water on
the purchase, he left the door slightly ajar by wondering aloud if a
benefactor might come forward. A benefactor with very deep
pockets: “We always have to look as high as we possibly can and
if one of them is to find someone with a lot of money, which would help
us all with that, I’d be the last one to say no to that.”

Realistically, the only benefactor that could afford a $35 million
price tag is the federal Government. And paying $35 million for any art
work is a hard sell – even taking into account the Blue Poles
precedent.

Remember, it was a politician, Gough Whitlam, who championed the
purchase of Blue Poles. Gough has played on the success of that art
investment ad nauseum over the years.

The current Arts Minister, Rod Kemp, is a pragmatic politician unlikely to blow budgets on a single purchase, no matter how
significant. He will know the Kandinsky in question was being hawked
around last year by Sotheby’s for between $US20 and $US30 million. It
was passed in. Don’t those trying to flog the painting at the top end
of that range realise that Australia gets the news from New York?

Besides, Kemp’s art taste lies a little closer to home. The minister’s more a Fred Williams man. Or McCubbin at a pinch.

The Herald Sun, meanwhile, today gave its sometime columnist,
3AW shock jock Neil Mitchell, a surprising promotion: “Gallery chairman
Neil Mitchell said the work, an oil on canvas, was offered by a New
York dealer,” reports the Hun. “‘Unfortunately, this is not something we could afford,’ Mr Mitchell said.”

Last time we looked, Neil Mitchell was a self-declared suburbanite more
likely to visit the footy than the art gallery. But with annual
earnings for his various media gigs nudging $400k, we reckon he should
take advantage of his new profile in the art world and kick-start a
Kandinsky fund.