Saturation of events It’s a radical digital revolution. As the coronavirus crisis settles in for the long term across the globe, the virtual initiatives staged by major art-market players are multiplying. Whereas in France the FIAC – which was...
Paris: The former Biennale des Antiquaires is hosted by Christie’s
The end of the operating rules Nothing in the art market works as it used to. The great operating rules which once governed it have all been thrown into disarray by the Covid-19 crisis. Competition between dealers and auction houses The art...
Charles Stewart CEO of Sotheby’s: “reinventing the auctions model”
https://youtu.be/e94QGzpYduU Patrick Drahi It’s been 12 months since Sotheby’s was bought by the French businessman Patrick Drahi. It’s been 9 months since he appointed a new head of the auction house, former investment banker at...
Murakami’s bankruptcy: the first art market corona shock
Heartbreaking story “This is Takashi Murakami. I’m a contemporary artist. Today’s story is my very heartbreaking story.” At the end of June Takashi Murakami uploaded a 15-minute video to Instagram that had been filmed at his studio on 23...
Art Basel online: artworks in the millions of dollars flood the internet
Online: the new norm In barely three months the online contemporary art market has become the new norm. Nothing can ever replace seeing artworks “in the flesh”, but while we await more favourable times once travelling restrictions are lifted,...
The Old Masters market: why would artworks that have stood the test of time be affected by the coronavirus?
Established for many centuries When talking about the art market there’s a tendency to immediately think of 20th-century art, which attracts the most fans and the highest figures. However, at a time when values are being called into question,...
Sotheby’s: the great revolution in the art market
Patrick Drahi It hit the art market like a bolt from the blue. On 17 June 2019, the French Moroccan-born businessman Patrick Drahi, who specializes in media and telecommunications, announced he had bought one of the world’s two leading auction...
Waiting for the art market’s “corona prices”
Silence It’s exceedingly difficult to get insiders to talk about the current evolution of the art market. A number of them refuse to make any statement, others tend to stick to abstract analyses, while a third group prefers to remain...
The art market during the Second World War: fake bargains and overlooked promising values
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1LdRmFZdnU War War. Economists and politicians alike are readily comparing the impact of the coronavirus to that of a military conflict. The 20th century’s most devastating and traumatising conflict was the...
Art market: Lessons from previous crises, from an unpaid for Van Gogh to the resurgence of young artists…
Crises comes and go Crises in the art market come and go, and no two are quite alike, but they can help us to understand how market values may be called into question. The crisis sweeping the world today and affecting the economy and the art...
Where is the art market heading in response to the coronavirus crisis? Online
Troubled times In these exceptional troubled times, with part of the planet living in confinement in response to the life-threatening nature of the pandemic, as the entire world comes to a standstill, it might seem inappropriate to talk about...
Art Basel Hong Kong: the organizers’ response to the coronavirus, a virtual fair which looks set to be interesting
Rushing towards technology As the coronavirus outbreak spreads across the world, art dealers and gallerists have been rushing at breakneck speed towards technology. In parallel to the Tefaf antiques fair in Maastricht, which was supposed to...