$500 million yacht to match the half-billion dollar plane

A few days back we posted a story about a custom built Airbus A380 that was being built for Saudi prince al-Waleed bin Talal. With a steam room, a Turkish bath, and a concert hall (complete with baby grand piano), not to mention a full garage for the prince’s Rolls Royce, the plane clocked in at a cool half-billion dollars. Not to be outdone by this lavish vehicle, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich has ordered a new Yacht that, when completed next year, will be the largest, and most expensive, private ship ever built.

The new ship is named the Eclipse and comes equipped with two helipads, an onboard luxury spa, swimming pool, and a mini submarine designed to work as an escape pod should the need arise. The 557-foot boat even has its own missile defense system and bullet proof windows, while the master cabin is surrounded in armor plating.

The Eclipse will only be the newest addition to Abramovich’s navy when it hits the high seas next year. He already has three other yachts, but they only range in size from 161 to 377 feet. Clearly he needed something larger. Experts believe that this newest vessel was designed with the intent of overshadowing, eclipsing if you will, the 525-foot yacht owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the leader of Dubai. And what does this wonderful new ship cost? Approximately $495 million.

Lets see. Russian businessman? Check! Massive private yacht equipped with missile system? Check! Seems like we have our villain for the next James Bond movie.

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Celebrate the Francis Bacon centennial, starting in Madrid

Reclusive, crazy and not as prolific as most other artists, Francis Bacon produced only around 1,000 paintings before his death. Around the world, his pieces appear one or two at a time, but few have the resources or reason to assemble a large retrospective. This year, that changes.

One hundred years ago, Francis Bacon was born. For his centennial, exhibitions are rumored to be planned at London’s Tate and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. But, I was surprised to see a large sign as I walked along the Paseo del Prado last week: Francis Bacon. Until April 19, 2009, you’ll be able to witness the progression of this genius’s work over four decades, with a collection of unusual breadth and depth (take a closer look here).

This is an interesting time for Francis Bacon. Last year, his work was among the hottest in the world, with Russian energy figure Roman Abramovich dropping $86.3 million on a triptych painted in 1976. Not even a full year later, the art market is in turmoil, and the auction houses are unable to move Bacon’s work, it seems, at any price. It feels like a sad undercurrent to what should be a year of celebration, but New York artist Nelson Diaz disagrees.
Diaz appears to be downright prophetic, having protested the art market’s ascent with a political statement via eBay last summer. At the time, he explained that Bacon would have been disgusted with the high prices that his work fetched. Nelson’s protest is over, but it does make rich background for what should be a year of Francis Bacon retrospectives around the world.

In the video below, Nelson explains last summer’s project and its connection to Francis Bacon. If you’re looking to the future, his latest project is “The Isolated Christ.”

Whether you stop by the Tate, Met or Museo del Prado to enjoy the Francis Bacon centennial, keep this back-story in mind. It changes everything you’ll see.

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