FTR, the orignal post was directed at the OP, not you. Feel free to flipflop me anytime though. 
Haj
Really? Can you give more interesting information on this?
Really? OK then…
Wait … Then how did you come to the original conclusion that people who buy art do that out of some “need of display of wealth”?
And what do you consider to be “pretentious paintings”? Can you be very specific about that?
I don’t know where you live, but you make it sound as if it is in the middle of nowhere.
I’m sorry, but I think you should go out a bit more and look around you to discover the vibrant artform that you declare to be “on its way out” but that nevertheless is there and is what you would call “priceless”.
Salaam. A
I don’t know what to say except that, no matter how exact the replica is in technique and materials used, its just not the same in my mind. I’m speaking more about historical objects than anything else, because I have more of a passion for history rather than art. You could make parchment exactly the way it was made in the late 18th century, make ink out of the same ingredients, and absolutely make a perfect copy of the Declaration of Independence, but that is not the same paper written on by one of our Founding Fathers, not the instrument of defiance which was used to set about a new nation where before only colonials existed. That makes a difference to me and I think the reasons are similar for art lovers. The original is not just about the beauty in the art itself, but being able to have a link with the genius that spawned such inspiration. Maybe it’s a form of hero worship, but I fail to see how that’s a bad thing or how shelling out the cash you have to receive the opportunity is any more of a bad thing than shelling out hundreds of dollars to hear a band you love live rather than on video.
So I said… Jeez! Don’t you folks read? The Fine Art Painting Market is a joke. Jeez!
Damnation Alderbaran, don’t you read? I’ve read three or four or five books this past year decrying the irregular practices of art dealers worldwide. Pretense sells paintings, and the whole art industry oprerates in concert to maximize profits and scam rich clients and art ignorant buyers from museums. (An exceptionally good expose was written by a Chinese chick who followed the art auctions in New York and London.) Read the newpapers, Sothebys gets busted for misconduct every time they get caught. Go to a library and find your own art business books. Read them.
Then Aldebaran said I said…“All priceless painting have now been painted and painting as a vibrant artform is on its way out”
Now, now, Aldebaran, I would hardly call the Heart of Dixie “nowhere”. Now don’t you take no offence, Alderbaran, but don’t you think that it might be you that’s a tad sheltered? Look around you…see that printer? That cheap printer that you got there will produce colors and shades and interplays of light with a clarity that would make Da Vinci go out and get a real job . Besides, remember; they don’t make old masterpieces anymore. Go to the window. Look at the sky. Right now photographs of immense beauty are being sent to Earth from Mars fifty million miles away.
There, Aldebaran, is the future of art, and all other modern art(with the exception of Picasso) is only hype and pretention.