You're implying that a painting has any inherent value (it does not). Just like everything else in the material world, it only has contextual value. Before the

You're implying that a painting has any inherent value (it does not). Just like everything else in the material world, it only has contextual value. Before the 1900s, aluminum was valued more than gold. Today, it is one of the cheapest metals around. Nothing changed but the context in which we were able to extract it. In the case of this painting, the context is what makes it valuable - the last known privately owned painting by a name nearly the entire western world recognizes immediately.