An insatiable appetite for art

Never in living memory has there been so much interest in buying art as there is now. Across all categories, from Old Masters to Impressionists to photographs, but mostly in 20th-century paintings, the international appetite for buying art has been steadily building in an art-market bull run that has already lasted 11 years.

In the second week of February, London witnessed the highest totals ever recorded at auction in the European art market. In the course of five days, over £260 million was handed over for works of art ranging from blue-chip Impressionists to emerging contemporary names. Then, in New York last month, a mysterious middle-aged man spent $95 million at a Sotheby’s auction on Picasso’s portrait of his mistress, ‘Dora Maar with Cat’. Since then the auction house has notched up its highest ever sales in wine, Italian art, Indian art and Russian art. Christie’s has recorded a record turnover, reporting sales of £1.8