With its own “digital statement of love,” the museum with the world’s greatest collection of Gustav Klimt paintings commemorates Valentine’s Day. The artèQ investment fund and the Belvedere museum in Vienna cooperated to introduce a nonfungible token (NFT) drop inspired by one of Austrian painter Gustav Klimt’s most iconic works, “The Kiss.”
A digital replica of this early 20th-century image of a couple of lovers was split into a 100-by-100 grid of 10,000 unique pieces and given as NFTs on Valentine’s Day.
According to the collection’s website, the cost of one NFT painting was assessed at 1,850 euros, which translated to.65 ETH on Feb. 14 and implied the total nominal worth of the NFT artwork was 18.5 million euros, or $21 million. However, just 33.3 ETH, or $103,900, had been received at the time of publishing, and more than 80% of the collection remained unsold. The Belvedere’s “A digital declaration of love” NFT collection had a low take-up rate, which might indicate that each piece was overpriced or that NFT buyers are less interested in traditional art at this time in the market growth.
Since 1908, when it was acquired for 25,000 crowns (about $240,000 today), the picture has been housed at the Belvedere.
The digital portion of the artwork purchased was exposed on the issued NFT certificates, and if the picture was donated to a loved one, a specific dedication was included.
How do these NFTs differ?
Wolfgang Bergmann, Belvedere’s managing director, stated in a statement ahead of the drop: “The extremely limited quantity of shares for the global market, as well as the fact that each piece is unique, make these tokens extremely valuable.”
Physical artwork tokenization is only one approach for museums to engage with their present audiences while also reaching out to new ones. The State Hermitage Institution in Russia has opened a fully digital display within a metaverse-style recreation of the museum, going beyond digital replicas.
