Leonardo DiCaprio, an avid art collector who routinely foots hefty bills for prized works of fine art at galleries, made his latest acquisition after seeing the piece simply on Instagram.
Leo secured this painting by artist Jean-Pierre Roy, titled “Nachlass (2015),” after seeing it on the social media image-sharing site, according to Complex:
DiCaprio reportedly purchased his new Jean-Pierre Roy piece, which was on display at PULSE New York Contemporary Art Fair, through Copenhagen’s Gallery Poulsen.
Nachlass, (2015,) is “a speculative work set in a beautiful landscape,” a representative for Gallery Poulsen told The Creators Project: “Leonardo spotted it on Instagram and bought it over the phone.”
According to CP, the artist describes his work as: “often associated with Science Fiction and The Post Apocalyptic.”
The Post-Apocalyptic artwork may be but a mirror its new owner’s worldview, as stated during his 2014 UN Climate Change Summit speech:
“I believe humankind has looked at climate change in that same way: as if it were a fiction, happening to someone else’s planet, as if pretending that climate change wasn’t real would somehow make it go away,” Leo said.
Art is always subject to interpretation. DiCaprio may have been driven by the painting’s message — something akin to: “This is what will become of humanity if overzealous activists don’t stop flying their private jets around to save the world.”
Of course, the popularity and convenience of shopping online is not isolated to the purchase of every day goods, or to every day people. Stephen Tanenbaum, President & Co-Founder of UGallery, reported in 2013 that 71 percent of art collectors have now purchased art of some form online.
Making an emotional connection over the internet is not so far fetched in the digital age. “Buying art — which some would argue can be as difficult as dating — has now been added to the list,” Tanenbaum said.