Price match

As the auctioneer banged his gavelA small hammer used to hit the table to get people's attention. , art lovers and football fans alike breathed a sigh of relief. On Wednesday evening, at Christie'sOne of the two biggest art auction houses in the world, along with Sotheby's. Originally based in London, it now has branches across the world.  auction house in London, LS LowryAn English artist known for his paintings showing 20th Century northern England. 's painting Going To The Match sold for £7.8m to a SalfordA city and area within Greater Manchester in northern England. museum.

Going To The Match has been called "the finest football painting ever", although Lowry only shows a tiny triangle of the pitch itself.

Painted in 1953, Lowry's picture depicts a crowd of fans descending on the Bolton Wanderers'¹ stadium before a football game. The sky is heavy with smog. The mills, factories and gas works of Manchester lurk in the background, reminding us that match day is a temporary relief from a life of tough labour.²

For over two decades, it held pride of place at The Lowry, an art centre named after the painter. It was loaned to the museum by the Players Foundation, a charity supporting footballers. When news of the sale broke, Lowry's admirers were worried the painting might be sold to a private collector and removed from public view. 

With the help of a donation, it was purchased by The Lowry and will remain in the museum. Mayor of Salford Paul Dennett said: "I am delighted our campaign to save this critical and important painting has successfully resulted in The Lowry securing it... for residents and visitors to our great city."

Lowry himself would have been shocked by the price. For almost forty years, he worked as a rent collector by day and painted in the evening. When he died in 1988 he left an estateAll of the money and property owned by a person. valued at £298,459, far short of the prices his works now command.

Recently his paintings have shot up in value. In 2007, Good Friday, Daisy Nook (1946) sold for £3.8m. In 2011, The Football Match (1949) and Piccadilly Circus (1960) both went for £5.6m. Going To The Match has set a new record.

For many of Lowry's admirers, these prices reflect the significance of his art. Lowry was a distinctive, one-off genius. His art is admired by millions of people. And Going To The Match is one of his masterpieces. It makes perfect sense that it has sold for such a high price, proving that his work remains important and relevant.

Lowry's art is especially valuable because it offers a rare document of a place and time in modern history. As British art specialist Alice Murray says: "It's hard to think of many artists who dared take on the great industrial progress of the 20th Century, let alone paint it so compellingly." The painting is a window into the past.

Others wonder if the money could be better spent elsewhere. In Britain, over 14.5 million people are currently living in poverty. The cost of livingThe money that someone needs to afford basic food, housing and clothes. crisis is expected to increase this sum. In a difficult time, almost £8m for a single painting looks decadentLuxurious and self-indulging. .

Selling art for vast sums of money also degrades the artwork, some say. The art market³ turns paintings into commoditiesThings that can be bought and sold., the same category as a pencil or pint of milk. Art critic Barbara Rose has compared art sold at auctions to "pieces of meat". Instead, great art should be considered priceless.

Yes: Go to Salford. Look at Lowry's painting. See his brushstrokes, his figures, the atmosphere of excitement he creates. £7.8m was a price worth paying to keep the painting for public view.

No: In a tough economic climate, spending millions on a picture seems misguided. The painting may have been saved for the public. But will many of the public be able to afford to visit the picture?

Or... You cannot truly put a price on art. The art market tries to in order to profit from the work of artists. But an encounter with a great painting is in a different category of experience.