[magicalhippo]

> I believe provenance is almost everything that matters in art, because it's what equips an artifact with meaning.

I've never "understood art", but when you phrased it like that it makes perfect sense. To me, provenance just isn't interesting. So I judge the pieces as they stand in front of me.

[dagw]

There are essentially 3 ways to judge 'art'.

- Do I find this aesthetic

- Do I find this historically/culturally interesting or significant

- Do I find this a good investment

The problem is that people don't always make it clear which one they are judging by and end up talking past each other.