The current largest sale took place in June of 2008 and achieved £298m when a Monet water lily painting took in £41m.  After this record the slump followed, in which paintings were not sold and last June sales reached a low £96m.

However, the money was still there to purchase art if great works had appeared given that last year in Paris at the Yves Saint Laurent sale records were achieved for Brancusi, Matisse, and Mondrian paintings.  Also high sales were hundred million dollar sales of Picasso and Giacometti works.

The theory behind this is that the super rich across the globe are choosing to invest their money in art instead of investing it in the unstable stock market or the banking system.  This is due to the fact that art is not only a status symbol, but also a way to hedge inflation so long as it is the best art available.

The fair opening in London next week has been titled the Masterpiece fair and will feature works that are said to be the ‘best of the best’ in the categories of art, wine, classic cars, antiques, and jewellery.

The success of the fair however will lie in the interest of the public when it comes down to the top ten paintings up for auction that have been termed the masterpieces which include works by Matisse, Derain, Manet, Picasso, Chaim Soutine, and Monet.

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With new fine art pieces starting to hit new selling records after a slump caused by the economic crisis, auction houses are once again firm in the belief that Russian arts, manuscripts, and paintings will continue to fetch high bids.

Director of the specialist Russian auction house MacDougall’s, William MacDougall, stated that they are expecting to see even more business now that the market is starting to improve and expects to see over 12m pounds of art sell during the next week.

During this time period, MacDougall’s will also be hosting a side sale of Russian works that were compiled in order to attract middle class bidders that are not able to afford major painting sales.

One of the highlights at the upcoming MacDougall show is “Arsenal Hill at Night” by Niko Pirosami from Georgia, which is valued to fetch between .9m -1.2m pounds.  For the past several years the piece of art has been in the Moscow apartment of Lily Brik whom was the muse of Vladmir Mayakovsjy the poet.

This week Sotheby’s will also hold three auctions, out of which it predicts to pull in about 19 million pounds which will be the same amount fetched during the end of 2009.

For Sotheby’s, the top sellers are expected to be “Portrait of Zinovil Grzhebin” by Yuri Annenkov and “The Dark Wood” by Ivan Shishkin.  The paintings are expected to fetch 1.2m pounds and 1.5m pounds respectfully.

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Up for sale at the Christie’s sale of contemporary Asian art on May 29 will be the ‘Mao’ Andy Warhol series along with a silkscreen ink print titled Myths.  Both the series and piece of art will be on display at the 2010 Hong Kong International Art Fair which will span from May 27^th to May 30^th.

Of particular note is Myths which is slated to sell for US $12m and is thought to be the most expensive piece of art available at the Art Fair this year.

One preliminary fact that represents the international interest that is already building in the Asian art world is the fact that online bids are already being accepted for pieces at the sales along with sales that will soon take place from Bonham’s at the International Art Fair.

Regional managing director of Christie’s Asia, Jonathon Stone, stated that the auction market is slowly starting to recovery globally due to the high demand coming out of Asia, which is expected to continue to fuel growth throughout 2010.

In fact, in 2009 Asian art was the largest type of art category that was sold via Christie’s auctions and represents roughly 15% of all art sales outside of the leading categories of modern art and Impressionist.

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The works are from Derain, Cezanne, Picasso, Renoir, and Gauguin and are billed as the ‘Tresors du Coffre Vollard.’  Together they compile a timeline from some of the key composers of modern art and outline the previous century’s most historical moments.

Altogether there are 140 works, which were placed in a Paris safety deposit box in 1939 and stayed there for forty years.  However, now they will soon go up for sale at the Sotheby’s in London and Paris.

Vice chairman of Sotheby’s modern art and impressionist department, Helena Newman, stated that the sale is like exploring a lost world as she only saw the collection for the first time just a couple of weeks ago.  Newman continued to say that it was like taking a step back in time because a great many of the works had not actually been viewed since 1939.

The collection at one point belonged to the imminent art dealer Ambroise Vollard who was killed in 1939 in a car crash.  A young Jew was in charge of his works and as the Nazis got closer he decided to put 140 of the works into a bank vault.

In 1942 the young man was killed at the Sajmiste concentration camp and the vault remained unopened due to the fact that French law mandates forty years must pass before the bank can sell the pieces to cover storage fees.

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Crichton, known best as the author of ‘The Andromeda Stain’ and ‘Jurassic Park’ was an avid art collector purchasing works straight from artists up until he succumbed to cancer back in 2008.

The sale will take place in New York at Christie’s on May 11^th and will literally be a collection of Who’s Who from the world of 20^th century art.  In particular the collection of Jasper John pieces should draw attention given that the collection is one of the most complete on the market and contains pieces from John’s entire career.  One of these items is ‘Flag’ which has the Stars and Stripes and has not been publicly seen for almost twenty years.

Other artists that will be up for auction include Jeff Koons, David Hockney, Robert Rauschenberg, Claes Oldenburg, Wayne Thiebaud, Ed Ruscha, and Andy Warhol.  Other highlights include three pieces from Pbalo Picasso and the Lichtenstain paintings ‘Girl in Water’ and ‘Figures in Landscape.’

Deputy Chairman of the American Christie’s, Brett Gorvy, stated that the show will present a unique chance for institutions and collectors to gain access to a private collection that is simply amazing.

Gorvy continues to say that Crichton was an extraordinary collector because he collected artwork that allowed him to see the true depth of the artists.

Over his lifetime, Crichton penned several blockbuster movies and created ER the television drama which was an international hit.

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The sketch is titled Mr. Ness after a teacher that he drew at age 12, while in class in 1970.

The sketch was just one of the 80 pieces that was auctioned off at the sale that took place yesterday by McTear’s auctioneers.

A representative from McTear’s, Magda Ketterer, stated that they always knew that the early sketch would draw an immense amount of attention, which is why it was not surprising that it sold for such a great price.

Ketterer also stated that the simple sketch shows the ability and insight of the renowned artist even from a young age.

Howson was born in London, and after moving to Ayrshire in his youth, later studied at the Glasgow School of Art.

In the 1990s he was declared the ‘war artist’ of the Bosnia conflict by the Imperial War Museum.  Most of his work contains themes of down and out subjects with biblical overtures.

The highest priced painting by Howson entitled Three Faces of Eve sold in 2008 for £300,500.

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One of the paintings, a self-portrait by Lucian Freud, was the second highest priced painting sold at a Sotheby’s auction this month, selling for £2.8m.  There were 77 lots at the auction, out of which, all but three were sold.

Christophe Van de Weghe, a New York based dealer, stated that people are starting to gain confidence in purchasing art again, because with the erratic stock market, and a lack of bank interest, art is now a great investment opportunity.

Artwork investors have also been encouraged by the record price of £43.8m that the painting sold for at a New York Sotheby’s auction last November.

According to ArtTactic, the Confidence Indicator for both the European and US art markets has increased up to 58 from 28, which is the highest it has been since November of 2007.

The highest winning bid at last night’s auction was £4m offered by a telephone buyer for an abstract painting by Kooning titled ‘Untitled XIV.’

Also secured for a high price by a telephone buyer was ‘Saint Anton’ by Doig, which went for a bid of £2.8m.

The majority of the auction’s publicity came from the 1978 painting by Freud entitled “Self Portrait with a Black Eye” which sold for £2.8m to Elana Guena the former Sotheby’s Europe director.

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The auction took place at London’s Sotheby’s and brought in five times more than its pre-sale estimate of £12 to £18m.  It also beat the current record for the top selling auction piece set in 2004 by a Picasso artwork.

Adding to the surprise of course is the fact that the piece sold so well even in the midst of the recession, a fact made more ironic given the fact it was up for auction due to the recession, given it was part of a collection that Dresdner Bank’s new owners chose to sell off.

For buyers the Giacometti auction was extra important given the fact that the sculpture is often considered to be one of his most respected 20^th century artworks.  This created quite a buzz throughout the auction room with interest in the sculpture clear as people started bidding without prompting from the auctioneer.

Ten bidders competed for the piece in all with two telephone bidders who continued to vie for the piece after it reached past £35m to the astonishment of most in the room.

Co-chairmen of Sotheby’s, Melanie Clore, stated that they were thrilled with the result of the sale which was the highest sale made at a London auction house as well.

For now the auction house refuses to reveal who the telephone bidder was that won the painting.

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The unknown female is believed to be Spanish although the painting is not complete making it hard to tell.

Experts estimate that the painting dates back to the beginning of the 17^th century during the regular travels to the Mediterranean by Flemish artists.

Although the history of the painting is fuzzy, it is believed that the painting remained in Venice until it was moved to Italy during the 19^th century.

At this time it became part of the Hammer family collection and remained in Wales until it was put up for auction this month.

Rubens may have started the painting as an aristocratic commission but it is not clear why the painting was not finished or if it was an actual commissioned piece.  The famous painter set a record in 2002 for the auction price of Massacre of the Innocents which sold for about £50m setting a record for an Old Master piece.

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Aside from these basic concerns, even art critics have a gear to grind as they claim that the BBC only choose trendy pieces, and not lasting classic artwork.

One such piece is a pieced named the World by artist Mark Pimlott which is a series of white lines that make a figure that looks like a globe.  The price on the Canadian painting which will hang outside of the Central London Broadcasting House is a whopping £1.5m.

A second piece was purchased for £897,000 is a glass cone that is 33ft tall and is located on the roof of the building.  The cone was created by Jaume Plensa to honour journalists who have passed away while on assignment.

Editor of art magazine Jackdaw, David Lee, stated that the BBC spent a very large amount of money on artwork that the average person will not get. Lee went on to state that he is not sure why the BBC would not have chosen artwork that was more traditional such as paintings.

Chairman of the campaign group Voice of the Viewer and Listener, Richard Lindley, was more concerned with how the money was spent stating that the BBC should keep in mind that viewers would want their licence fee be spent on programming.

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