When auctioneer Jussi Pylkkanen brought down the hammer on Leonardo da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi (ca. 1500) at Christie’s in 2017, it fetched $450.3 million, making history as the priciest work of art ever sold at a public auction. Sold as the last Leonardo in private hands, it went to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman; ever since, it’s been visible in numerous headlines and even in a documentary, but hasn’t gone on public view.
Well, New York’s Salvator Mundi Museum of Art can’t exactly fill that gap, since it doesn’t have the painting, but the 45-square-foot institution, founded by mischievous artist Elliott Arkin in 2019, does bill itself as having “one of the largest private collections of art and ephemera surrounding the Salvator Mundi story.” (Presumably, it’s the only one of its type, but using superlatives in marketing language can get tricky.) Located in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn and visible from the street, the museum is open daily from 9 in the morning to 10 at night, with private tours available on request. The museum even has its own board of advisers, including Hugh Marlais Davies, past director of the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, and artist and ex–Museum of Modern Art curator Robert Storr.
Arkin, per an Artsy profile from 2018, has lots of talents, having “worked as a sculptor for animated films like Horton Hears a Who, earned his real estate license, collaborated with Vito Acconci on a roving art-education initiative, and served (for a very short time) as the official sculptor for opera superstars Three Tenors.” That article was on the occasion of the artist’s 10-foot-tall sculpture of Pablo Picasso pushing a lawn mower in a Brooklyn park, self-financed to the tune of about $120,000. (The artist told Artnet News that it came out of a joke about how the art world has changed so much that if Picasso were around today he would have to mow lawns for a living.)
The current exhibition, “The Orb Show: All About Balls,” centers on the crystal sphere Christ holds in Leonardo’s painting, which Arkin describes as “one of the most debated—and quietly perplexing—details” in the work, since it does not refract light as it would by the laws of physics. The show expands on the concept of the orb with items including a plastic fortune-telling toy and a mirrored disco ball. Past shows include “Salvator Barbi,” comparing the Leonardo masterpiece with the massively popular Mattel doll, and “The Art of Rescue,” that compares the restoration of artworks and the rescue of animals.
The entrance to the Salvator Mundi Museum of Art.
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No museum would be complete without a gift shop, and this one is a doozy. In a way, it may be the heart of the project—the museum’s logo, after all, is an S with the Mundi M superimposed, so that it resembles a dollar sign. On offer are a T shirt, women’s underwear, and a Shayla scarf with the image of the work, as well as Mundi-themed wines, tomato sauce, coffee, “enhancement supplements,” and more. If you’re hoping to snag some Mundi cryptocurrency, you’re out of luck, as that apparently sold out in 2020, back when these things were red-hot.
For a few dollars more (to be precise, $450, a millionth of the price of Leonardo’s panel), you can also get framed interpretations of the Leonardo masterpiece in the style of artists like Jeff Koons (the orb is a blue reflecting ball), Marcel Duchamp (with a scribbled goatee on Christ’s face and the caption L.M.F.A.O.), and Richard Prince (an appropriated Instagram post of the painting with a comment from Prince reading “What’s the difference between Jesus and a picture of Jesus? It only takes one nail to hang a picture”).
Another offering in the shop alludes to the fact that Leonardo’s painting was extensively restored by esteemed conservator Diane Modestini after being bought from an estate sale for a song by dealers Alexander Parrish and Robert Simon. Insiders quipped that Christie’s inclusion of the painting in a modern and contemporary art sale was only fitting since 50 percent of the paint had been added in the last 50 years. Also for the price of $450 comes a Salvator Mundi DIY restoration kit, in an edition of, you guessed it, 450. “Now you can restore your very own Salvator Mundi painting,” says the promotional text. “If you do a really good job, who knows what it might sell for?”
ARTnews can reveal that to this impressive portfolio of products, Arkin will on August 3 unveil Salvator Mundi–themed cannabis. According to marketing materials, it promises to put the “high” back in “High Renaissance.”
The museum will soon offer Salvator Mundi cannabis.
Asked in a phone interview what made Salvator Mundi such a smash with the public, Arkin said, “It was a perfect storm. You’re bringing Jesus, Leonardo and the contemporary art world together. The idea of finding that lost treasure is universal, whether finding the Holy Grail or finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or finding Jesus. This is such a human story, I thought, it can be a brand.”
Referring to Nike sneakers, he went on, “When you want to buy running shoes, you buy the goddess of victory. If you buy the Salvator Mundi coffee, you’re discovering a great cup of coffee you never knew of!”
Bin Salman, Arkin noted, is rumored to be building a museum around the painting. He’s already looking forward to the marketing campaign for the future institution, with, of course, a bit of a skeptical eye. “You know how toys make movies to sell more toys? Those who are cynical about museums to begin with might say that all art museums are set up to help board members promote their art collection.”
“Of course,” he added slyly, “I don’t share that view.”
