Manhole Cover Art in Japan

Manholes aren’t really artists’s first choice. However 95% of Japan’s 1,780 municipalities you will find artistic manhole covers unique to each city and town. It has become apart of the country’s national culture and it’s fascinating to see the different designs and styles that each town and city has chosen to represent them. With over 6,000 manhole cover artworks, it’s no surprise that spotting and photographing them has become a hobby for many.






























































Via MRSY on Flickr

20 Most Expensive Paintings Ever Sold

Hundreds of thousands even millions of dollars are spent every year by art patrons eager to own the world’s most sought-after paintings.Find out a little more about this shortlist of Picasso’s, Van Gogh’s and more works from famous artists who still command the highest prices.

Pablo Picasso – Femme aux Bras Croisés (Woman with Folded Arms), 1902
Sold for $55 million in 2000


Vincent van Gogh – A Wheatfield with Cypresses, 1889
Sold for $57 million in 1993


Kazimir Malevich – Suprematist Composition, 1916
Sold for $60 million in 2008


Paul Cézanne – Rideau, Cruchon et Compotier, 1894
Sold for $60.5 million in 1999


Willem de Kooning – Police Gazette, 1955
Sold for $63.5 in 2006


Vincent van Gogh – Portrait de l’Artiste Sans Barbe (Self-portrait without beard), 1889
Sold for $71.5 million in 1998


Andy Warhol – Green Car Crash, 1963
Sold for $71.7 million in 2007


Mark Rothko –White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender on Rose), 1950
Sold for $72.8 million in 2007


Peter Paul Rubens – Massacre of the Innocents, 1611
Sold for $76.7 million in 2002


Pierre-Auguste Renoir – Bal au Moulin de la Galette, Montmartre (Dance at Le moulin de la Galette), 1876
Sold for $78.1 million in 1990


Jasper Johns – False Start, 1959
Sold for $80 million in 2006


Claude Monet – Le Bassin Aux Nymphéas (Water Lily Pond), 1919
Sold for $80.5 million in 2008


Vincent van Gogh – Portrait of Dr. Gachet, 1890
Sold for $82.5 million in 1990


Francis Bacon – Triptych, 1976
Sold for $86.3 million in 2008


Gustav Klimt – Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer II, 1912
Sold for $87.9 million in 2006


Pablo Picasso – Dora Maar au Chat (Dora Maar with Cat), 1941
Sold for $95.2 in 2006


Pablo Picasso – Garçon à la Pipe (Boy with a Pipe), 1905
Sold for $104.2 million in 2004


Gustav Klimt – Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907
Sold for $135 million in 2006


Willem de Kooning – Woman III, 1953
Sold for $137.5 million in 2006


Jackson Pollock – No. 5, 1948
Sold for $140 million in 2006