The first quarter of the year and into April has seen Art market transactions take a positive leap forward. The first major art exhibition at the Venice Biennale has started. Reports suggest the London market looked a little stronger after Christie’s 20th/21st Century and Art of the Surreal auctions on Thursday March 7.
Covering Impressionist, Modern, Surrealist and contemporary art, back-to-back sales achieved £196.7 m ($250 m) versus an estimated £166 m to £233 m estimate1. In other news a number of attention-grabbing artworks went up for auction, tinged with a degree of controversy (from Warhol/Basquiat collaborations to suggestions of Nazi related works in the mix). We saw a number of significant philanthropic projects, and innovation, through the introduction of products such as bonds backed by securitized art loans and digital art, is still high on the agenda.
