Recession hits Art Market

The world wide art market is being hard hit by the American recession and global economic slowdown. How? Artworks at auction are going unsold.

Where just a year ago we were seeing record prices for Andy Warhol's and Vincent Van Gogh's, now paintings and sculptures are sitting on the auction block with no bids whatsoever.

The Canadian art auction market for example celebrated 12 years of growth, eclipsing $71 million in sales over 2007-2008, its largest ever.

At the end of 2008 however the money has dried up. The collapse of the housing sector, the financial markets, the automotive sector and other industries has caused investors to grip their money more firmly. Invest in art? Ha!

In London and New York, fall auctions have severely underperformed, leaving major works unsold or greatly underpriced that American collector Eli Broad even jokingly called it a "half-price sale."

At the modern and impressionist art auctions in New York on November 3rd and 4th works from Monet, Matisse, Van Gogh, Cézanne, Warhol and Rothko, were left unsold. Sotheby's had estimated a low of $338 million (U.S.) in sales, but had only $223.8 million.

So what does this mean for living artists and private art galleries? Well if the art investors are tightening their belts, it suggests that regular art buyers will do the same too and art sales will plummet. We can expect to see quite a few privately owned art galleries lose their collective shirts and close.

Its hard enough for art galleries to survive as is. Its not exactly a business known for profits.