Retired Dog Walker Gifted $10M Painting Tries to Sell It at Auction, Only Nets $40,000

A former dog walker who was bequeathed a painting that he thought would be worth $10 million was shocked to find that he was only able to auction it for $40,000. 

Mark Herman, 68, who is now living on Social Security, was gifted a piece of abstract art painted by Chuck Close, an artist whose works are worth millions of dollars. Isidore Silver, Herman’s friend and a former customer, gave him the painting, the New York Times reported.

Silver was a lawyer who represented Close in a First Amendment lawsuit against the University of Massachusetts in the late 1960s. He had one of Close’s paintings, a large rolled up canvas, that he insisted Herman should take. 

“He basically said, take the painting,” Herman told the Times. The former dog walker knew that Close’s paintings were worth millions after he discovered that one painting was sold for $4.8 million.

After consuming magic mushrooms one night, Herman had a vision that he would sell the Close painting he had for $10 million. He even made plans to move in with his girlfriend in a new house. 

He arranged an auction with Sotheby’s, a New York City based company that brokers fine art and collectibles, to sell the painting. 

An early bid of $40,000 was made for the painting on Tuesday at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, which is above the auction house’s estimate that ranges between $20,000 and $30,000.

No live bids were made that day and Herman had to net only $40,000 for the painting.

“I’m really disappointed,” he told the Times. “But then, I think, if I had a lot of money it would put a lot of pressure on me. And that’s the last thing I need.”