After going to art shows you'll quickly realize there is no intrinsic value in art. Also, for laypeople like many of us, it's hard to appreciate what makes some paintings more valuable with just a cursory glance...
But I agree, 170 million is bullshit. I would rather see that redistributed to the lower class so it can be blown on quik-e-mart smokes and scratch-offs.
Of course they have no intrinsic value, they are investments (hedge funds are big buyers and sellers), signs of wealth to show off and also for money laundering.
I would love to expand more on that last point but it would be dodgy to say names. Suffice to say certain people receive gifts of art as a form of bribery, same as expensive bottles of wine and whiskey (now being acted against in China) have been used to "smooth" business transactions.