Aussie Picasso Sale Overrated - artmarketblog.com Here in Australia, the average art auction will usually result in about AU$6,000,000 worth of sales so what would happen if an artwork was sold at auction that was estimated to sell for $7 million?
sum of money for a work sold in Australia that they may not have actually seen in the flesh. I would be very surprised if this work is not sold and even more surprised if it is sold to an Australian.
Other people have suggested that the successful sale of such a valuable work in Australia will do wonders for the Australian art market but, once again, I think that an assumption such as this is extremely naive and premature. Even if “Sylvette” does sell to an Australian, I do not think that there will be any change to people’s perception of the Australian art market or any change in people’s perception of Australian art buyers. Once again, all the sale of this work would indicate is that there is still demand for high quality works, nothing more. What do you think?
Update: Piacsso’s “Sylvette” has sold for $6.9 million including buyers premium to what is rumoured to be an international buyer.
image: “Sylvette” by Picasso
**Nicholas Forrest is an art market analyst, art critic and journalist based in Sydney, Australia. He is the founder of http://www.artmarketblog.com, writes the art column for the magazine Antiques and Collectibles for Pleasure and Profit and contributes to many other publications.
