Auction houses are recording a boom in sales after a return to pre-pandemic levels of supplies of works
The second sale this week of works in the Macklowe collection – a court-ordered auction as part of an acrimonious divorce settlement between octogenarians Harry and Linda Macklowe – realised $246m. Total sales from the couple’s remarkable collection, which included works by Warhol, Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, came to more than $922m.Photograph: Sarah Yenesel/EPA
At a time of geopolitical uncertainty, soaring inflation and falling stock prices, the art market is beyond booming. The explosion is fuelled by a combination of an unusual number of highly desirable works becoming available, and an increase in those who can afford to buy them.Forbes’ tally of more than 700 new billionaires
A woman poses in front of Pablo Picasso’s ‘Femme nue couchée’ during the New York press preview of Sotheby's Macklowe collection’s spring auction.Art was “seen as somewhere safe to put your money,” said Adam. “At the top end of the market, the returns can be colossal. What other investment can offer these sorts of returns?”
The other half of the equation was supply, she said. “During the pandemic, there was a dearth of works to sell because of uncertainty about the resilience of the market. A lot of people chose to wait. “It has opened channels to a whole new demographic,” said Petterson. The only way to witness an art auction in the past was to brave an exclusive, highly privileged and often intimidating group. “Now you can sit in front of your screen at home to watch this theatrical spectacle. It definitely drives interest.”
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