John Singer Sargent’s unfinished portrait of Italian actress Eleonora Duse (1893), oil on canvas (Herta and Paul Amir Collection, via Wikimedia)
Inspired by the Harper’s Index, Sum of the Arts is a periodic tabulation of numbers floating around the art world and beyond.
- Minutes actress Eleonora Duse tolerated sitting for a portrait by John Singer Sargent in 1893 = 55
- Tons of confiscated ivory art crushed by US officials in Times Square = 1
- Number of days it will take 3,000 gallons of polluted NYC water to be purified in Spanish architect Andrés Jaque’s installation at MoMA PS1 = 4
- American dollars paid for a New Zealand giant squid to clear customs and enter the collections of the American Museum of Natural History = 10
- Percentage of 40,000 museum visitors surveyed in 2010 who enjoyed guided tours = 31
- Length in feet of a traditional Inca bridge that will be woven from grass ropes by indigenous craftsmen on the National Mall = 60
- Number of art dealers who had booths at Art Basel in both 2000 and 2015 = 92
- Weight in pounds of the eight-foot-tall bronze Ronald Reagan statue unveiled at the California Capitol = 800
- Gallons of water a day the Getty saves by turning off its fountains as part of California’s drought conservation = 2,500
- Number of people who witnessed the summer solstice at Stonehenge = 23,000 (down from 36,000 in 2014)