Would art sink without artists, galleries, curators, museums, collectors, auction houses, critics, journalists?

Would art sink without imagination, ingenuity, belief, vanity, idealism, greed, controversy, public interest, public outrage? Isn't it a concoction of all of the above—and a lot more—that art is floating on?

Art is a subjective and collective endeavor deriving from and simultaneously expressing the greatness of man.

Art (say artworks to make it sound as tangible as money) and money (say human economic activity to make it sound as intangible as art) are two important facets of behavior of this marvel that is the human being. They both originate from the same inspired, creative existence that is the intricate and inexplicable reality of the human being. They both manifest as a natural, expected and accepted expression of this existence. The fact that artistic expression is considered noble and the interest in money much less so, can be probably attributed to the prevalence of one in all of us versus the limitation of the other to the gifted few.

As expressions of humanness, art and money will always be unavoidably and inextricably linked. Money will flock to art and art to money. And all for the best, as it is in this way that art has been valued, preserved, available for our stimulation and enjoyment and regenerated in an endless process of creation.

—Dimitris Daskalopoulos, C.E.O. of Delta Holding and member of the International Director's Council committee for acquisitions at the Guggenheim Museum, N.Y.