wherein we learn whether you can wish culture into existence. my prediction: no.

Qatar Purchases Cézanne’s The Card Players for More Than $250M, Highest Price Ever for a Work of Art. With this landmark score, the tiny, oil-rich nation joins a massively exclusive club: only 5 Card Players exist, and the other 4 are in world-class collections such as the Musée d’Orsay and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The purchase is just the latest bid in Qatar’s effort to become an international intellectual hub.