The price of the paintings is mostly a reflection that some billionaires have absurd amounts of money and need store it somewhere.

The millions made by cat videos are a reflection that millions of people enjoy them and advertising companies are getting lots of money out of it.

Funny cat videos can be shared and appreciated by millions instantly and share a common basis for conversation and internet/meme culture.

It might seem shallow and pointless but it's the human impact that really makes it valuable.

You can't lift the emotions of millions with a dozen pieces of art like the Salvator Mundi and the technical mastery of it can only be appreciated by those with an understanding of art.

The closest everyday people can get is listening to the story of DaVinci, and dreaming a little.

Art market is also a money laundering scheme. I'm not saying art has no value, just that those $860m could mean in many cases also something else.

That is common practice, not just in modern art. Unknown soccer (and probably other sports too) players transfers are also used to launder money, or simply to move big amounts of money in ways that could raise questions if done through normal operations. Who defines a player's value? All it needs is building a fake career, have him score some nice goals, arrange some set up friendly matches and shoot videos that will make him look like a champ. Then nobody would complain when his transfer will be reported as amount X while in practice X/10 is the real transfer cost and the rest is money being moved under the table from A to B. That practice is harder to do in top leagues, but easier to conceal in minor ones, and still profitable.

Show me a an immortal cat, and it might be worth millions - artwork can exist millennia.

Maybe a unique breed of cat would be worth millions, if they existed.

Because cats are mostly fungible[0], and easily supplied, there isn't the exclusivity that would otherwise give them a high price tag.

[0] There are rare, expensive breeds. But even there there is a limit to what will pay for basically a cat.

I don't think Da Vinci ever saw that money...

closest youll get https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/fashion/whatever-h...