After auctioning high-profile NFTs for millions of dollars, Sotheby’s is now using an NFT in a novel way: to digitally “secure” a Picasso painting.
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are a type of cryptocurrency that reside on a smart contract platform, typically Ethereum. Each NFT is unique and is impossible to replicate — a property that made NFTs popular as digital artworks and collectibles. For example, Sotheby’s recently hosted an auction for the source code of the World Wide Web, as authored by its inventor, Tim Berners-Lee. The auction is still open with six days to go, and the highest bid is currently $2.2 million (for more on NFTs, read our explainer here).
This time, however, Sotheby’s is auctioning a real, physical painting by Pablo Picasso, titled “Le peintre et son modèle,” together with a specially crafted NFT that resides on the Ethereum blockchain.
The NFT was created with a Looking Glass scanner from startup Mira Imaging. It uses a microscope, AI, and robotics to scan “every micron” of the painting’s surface to create a “unique encrypted signature,” Sotheby’s says.
The NFT can then be used to confirm the painting’s authenticity (if you have the Looking Glass scanner handy, that is). Sotheby’s claims that the object can be scanned in a few minutes, and that the process is no more invasive than taking a photograph. Then, the physical object can be re-identified with a very small chance of error — one in “many” billions, says Sotheby’s.
As for the painting, it was painted by Picasso in 1964, and is estimated at 1.5 to 2 million GBP ($2.1 to $2.8 million). Sotheby’s says it’s the first painting to be secured using Mira’s technology.
“It is incredibly fitting to pilot this technology with a painting by the greatest pioneer of the 20th century, Pablo Picasso, who continued to embody the spirit of invention and experimentation even in his eighth decade and beyond,” Julian Dawes, Co-Head of Sotheby’s Impressionist & Modern Art in New York, said in a statement.
The auction kicks off on June 29.
