After an outrageous attempt at price gouging that rivaled even the purchase of the painting itself, the Neue Galerie has aborted its plan to charge fifty bucks a pop to see the Klimt recently acquired by Ron Lauder for $135 million. The Galerie - or, as we like to call it, gallery - had envisioned the plan as an opportunity for the public "to come on Wednesdays for $50, when it would be less crowded." But after an Associated Press piece mentioned the new pricing structure, Neue cancelled the idea, "saying the offer was misread by the public."

We can see how a feeble-minded public might misinterpret the prospect of paying $35 over the price of admission as some kind of crass attempt to cash in on the painting's brief notoriety. Especially when you consider that, for that kind of money, you could go to The Met twice and still be halfway toward a ticket to MOMA.

Neue Galerie Scraps a $50 Offer to See Its New Klimts [NYT]

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