And we’re back! According to the Artprice Global Index, which tracks international auction figures, art prices have returned to the lofty heights they inhabited before the 2008 worldwide economic crash, The Financial Times reports today.
The market researcher’s numbers show a 27 percent spike in auction prices in the first quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. After a “dull 2010”–to borrow The Financial Times’ description–the art market has apparently recovered.
Astoundingly, Chinese auction houses accounted for a full third of global auction sales in the first quarter of 2011, up from just 23 percent last year. Of the top 20 auction houses worldwide, ten are now based in China. As Art Market Monitor notes, prices for art have taken far longer to recover than those for wine and classic cars. Finally, though, their day has come.
