Thursday, February 4, 2010

Is the Art Market Gaining Traction?

Breaking the record for the sale of art at an auction, an unidentified buyer purchased "Walking Man 1" by Alberto Giacometti (see image at http://www.suite101.com/view_image.cfm/499373) at a Sotheby's auction in London on February 3rd. It sold for $104,327,006. At the same auction a Klimt landscape sold for $43,208,606. The total auction yielded a record high $235.7 million. Add to that a a hearty return from Sotheby's Old Master and 19th Century European Art sale in New York last week and Christie's London sale of impressionist and surreal art totaling $149,607,659 and you have signs that the art market may be gaining traction.