AI-Identified $100 Thrift Painting Sells for $254,000 at Auction
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Jun 10
AI-Identified $100 Thrift Painting Sells for $254,000 at Auction
2 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 10
Summary
189,200 pounds with fees—about $254,000—was paid by a private buyer this month for Helene Plotkin’s painting, which she bought at a White Plains thrift store for under $100 about 60 years ago.
AI helped unlock the sale last December, when Plotkin used a chatbot to identify the work; art appraisers later verified it as an original by Scottish Colorist F.C.B. Cadell.
Plotkin, 88, had kept the Fauvist-style portrait on her wall for decades, drawn to its bold brushwork and color but unaware it was a significant work of European art.
The case points to a wider shift in art discovery, suggesting AI tools may broaden access to object identification once largely reserved for trained experts.