The $450,000,000 Question

Could the most important piece in the year’s buzziest exhibition be one that isn’t there at all?

- Stephen Wallis

Is it in or is it out? That question has been the talk of the art world (and beyond) in the run-up to the Louvre’s blockbuster fall Leonardo da Vinci exhibition, the headliner among multiple shows organized to mark the 500th anniversary of the Renaissance master’s death.

Opening on October 24, the exhibit features international loans of major works to complement the Louvre’s own trove of 22 Leonardo drawings and five paintings (fewer than 20 of his paintings survive). One of the paintings is the Mona Lisa, which is returning to its usual spot after renovations to its gallery. But the work on everyone’s mind is the Salvator Mundi, a rediscovered depiction of Christ painted around 1500 that became the most expensive artwork ever sold when a member of the Saudi royal family paid $450 million for it at Christie’s two years ago.