10th anniversary of Art Basel Miami Beach

Created in 2002, Art Basel Miami Beach (Florida, USA) has just celebrated its 10th anniversary.

No surprise in London

The results of the Impressionist & Modern sales in London last week were without surprise (except for the withdrawal of Camille PISSARRO ’s, Le Quai Malaquais) and made the era of 8-figure auction results an even more distant memory. Both auction houses generated eight sales above the $1m line. The bought-in rate was not identical however: 15% at Sotheby’s (out of 27 lots presented) and 32% at Christie’s (out of 45 lots offered).

The most buoyant art movements of 2005

Artprice has established a ranking of art movements based on price progressions in 2005.

Propelled by a major exhibition since 5 October at the Pompidou Centre, Dada takes the lead with a 137% rise in its price index since the beginning of the year.
However, the Dadism movement lasted only eight years from 1916 to 1924 and supply remains very limited. Not a single work by Duchamp, Sophie TAEUBER-ARP or Hans ARP produced during this short period appeared at auction in 2005.

Impressionist and Modern Art sales generate USD 291 million

The Impressionist and Modern Art sales held on 1 and 2 November by Christie's and Sotheby's respectively were a huge success. The two auction houses generated a total of USD 291 million from the sale of 110 of the 123 lots on offer.

Art market latest trends: resale lots

Following the latest New York sales, the Artprice Global Index of fine art, which uses repeated sales method, is up 18.2% on the year-ago period. USD 100 invested in an artwork ten years ago would now be worth an average of USD 153. Many art collectors are generating even higher returns through judicious deals at auction, making the most of the market’s current enthusiasm. To give an idea of some of the particularly lucrative transactions recently carried out, Artprice presents the following list of works that have come under the hammer at least twice:

Art Market Alert III

Finding a niche in a declining market.

Collectors are being bombarded with offers aimed at reviving the current sluggish market. But the figures tell a different story. The buy-in ratio over the last six months has averaged 37% and auction houses are increasingly struggling to fill their catalogues. By 23 September, only 185 fine art sales had been announced for October 2003 compared to 263 a year earlier.

Hans Arp (1887-1966)

Auctioneers Calmels-Cohen are to break up the collection assembled by Hans Arp’s brother, François Arp. The Dada artist’s price index has gained 56% since 1997 and a new record for his work was set at the recent Breton sale.

André Breton: ever higher

Two thousand people showed up at the Drouot on 14-15 April for the auction of 400 modern art works from the Breton collection—and got thoroughly carried away. Total turnover for the three sessions was EUR23 million, well beyond the experts’ most optimistic estimates of EUR16 million.

Marathon of surrealist auctions: 4,100 lots in one sale

The extraordinary and much-envied art collection amassed by André Breton during his time at 42 rue Fontaine is coming up for auction. The collection will be broken up during the longest auction ever held (1-18 April), at Hôtel Drouot. This eagerly awaited and controversial sale is already marked in diaries round the world as a must-see by all collectors interested in fresh and historic works.