The Millions Behind Works of Art

Archaeologist and anthropologist, Quito-born Rafaela Cobo builds a bridge between art and business. This Under 30 artist navigates a market that moves billions of dollars.
At six years old, Rafaela Cobo entered the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) in New York for the first time. She clearly remembers the silence of the galleries, the Egyptian sculptures, and the feeling of being in front of a new universe. "That day I promised myself that one day I would work there."

From then on, her life revolved around the desire to learn to decipher the stories hidden in objects, to transform the past into living narratives, and to demonstrate that art is not a distant luxury, but an experience capable of transforming those who observe it. Thus began a long conversation about her great passion.

Cobo remembers spending hours talking with her grandfather, Fernando Ordóñez, about historical stories instead of playing with her cousins. On weekends, she would convince her family to tour Quito's museums. Her favorite, among others, is the Casa del Alabado. "It is, without a doubt, the best example of pre-Columbian history as art. I never saw it as mere objects; for me, they are living expressions." Museums were a must-see on vacation; she lost count of how many she visited. "I never tire. I have a very strong connection with the human past. For me, there are no limits I can't overcome. I learned to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics."

She studied archaeology and anthropology at George Washington University. For her, learning among the unique display cases and collections at the Smithsonian, one of the largest museum complexes in the world, was magical. She had her first experiences assembling collections at the Museum of Textiles in DC. "I had to catalog more than 100,000 pieces from 50 different Indian cultures. We had fabrics, dresses, crowns, and ornaments. I learned to dissect immense collections and turn them into stories."

Upon graduation, the moment she'd longed for arrived: an internship at the MET in New York. There, she worked in the area of education and multisensory exhibition design. She was part of the team that mounted an exhibition on Aztec and Mayan gods. "I understood that museums can't just be static showcases; they must be accessible, participatory, inviting people to touch and feel. Only then can you make people understand what they're seeing."

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Rafaela believed she was touching the stars; she was fulfilling her dream, but her spirit wanted to explore further. She made a leap into the secondary art market, where works or relics are resold at exorbitant prices. She first worked at Christie's as part of the Latin American research group, and a year later she joined Sotheby's as the bidding coordinator. Together, these two auction houses keep tabs on the global art and luxury markets, generating revenues of over US$15 billion annually.

The work was exhaustive. She learned to trace the authenticity and provenance of each work from the moment it was painted. "If there was a gap in the history along the way, we couldn't accept it."

While at Christie's, she was part of the staff that organized the auction of the collection of Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, which eventually sold for US$1.5 billion. "The catalog included paintings by Van Gogh, Botticelli, Klimt, among others."

At Sotheby's, she participated in the sale of a Picasso from Emily Fisher's collection for US$139.4 million. "Imagine, we sold a dinosaur fossil to a private collector for $44.6 million, which was then donated to the Museum of Natural Science in New York."
While reviewing his photo archives, he found something even more incredible. Italian Maurizio Cattelan's artwork, "Comedian," consisting of a banana taped to a wall, sold for $6.2 million. "The banana is real, and when it gets damaged, it must be replaced with a new one. There was a lot of controversy and debate surrounding it."
Maurizio Cattelan, "Comedian" sold for US$6.2 million. Photo: courtesy of Rafaela Cobo

And there was much more. Six Lionel Messi jerseys for US$7.8 million, a set of watches for over US$2 million, and a Monet painting for US$60 million. Paintings by Ecuadorian artists Oswaldo Guayasamín and Eduardo Kingman were also sold at these events.

Over a three-year period, if memory serves, Rafaela participated in over a hundred auctions. The pace was exhausting. Sometimes she worked 18 hours straight, because the process is all about precision, rigor, and zero margin of error. "A single doubt can ruin a multi-million dollar business."

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This Under 30 artist wants to democratize access to the art market and open a space for Latin American collectors in a setting that is distant for many. "I have a portfolio of 100 private clients, three of whom are Ecuadorian. I guide and advise them on investment decisions and how to do it wisely, because it's an asset that appreciates in value."

She's in Quito on vacation, and her first stop was the El Alabado Museum, which remains one of her favorites. In September, she's leaving for Cambridge University in England to pursue an MBA focused on art and culture management. For her, it's not just glamour and contemplation; it's a market capable of moving figures that defy the imagination.
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