Recent art sales making historic sales records
Art sales especially art auction house sales are booming lately. It was announced that within a three day auction at Christie’s, the world’s largest auction house, it sold more than $1 billion worth of art recently recording the world’s biggest art sale week. At its one day contemporary art auction it received $658.5 million and added another $705.9 million at the 20th century works auction day. This gives the auction house a clear lead over its rival, Sotheby’s. Sotheby’s also made its second highest gross sales within the same period.
What cause these record sales? Some say it is the result of “excess and speculations.” Sales have been climbing within last few years and a new class of buyers with excess cash is entering the art market. Larry Fink, the chairman of the biggest asset management company BlackRock represent the new class of buyers with ample cash to spend on art and others. He is one of more than 170,000 world’s ultra-high net worth individuals in the world having more than $30 million in cash. Notable pieces sold included Lucien Freud’s 1994 oil painting, “Benefits Supervisor Resting,” which was sold for $56.2 million and Andy Warhol’s 1963 silk screen on canvas, “Colored Mona Lisa,” which was sold for $ 56.2.