Dubai: For those who are planning to venture into the realm of art collecting, the art market seems impervious to the crisis and continues to gain market share. While the financial markets tumbled and the economies faltered in recent years, more people poured their money into art.
In the Middle East alone, spectacular art works have captivated the interest of buyers not just from the region but from other parts of the world as well. "The art market has kept solid at least in the last several years. It has even gone up," says Isabelle de La Bruyere, director of Christie's Middle East.
In 2006, about 85 per cent of Christie's sales were purchased by Middle Eastern buyers. But today, 40 per cent of the buyers are international clients from as far as Puerto Rico and China. "So the market has gotten large and more people have participated in sales," she adds.
From 2009 to 2010, the classical art collector came back to the market since more prices were more adjusted for the middle segment, although important pieces still achieved new record prices and attracted new buyers to join the art market. In 2011, Christie's held sales totalling $5.7 billion (Dh20.9 billion), up 14 per cent compared with 2010.
This includes private sales of $808.6 million, an increase of 50 per cent on 2010.
However, the art market can still be intimidating, especially for newcomers.
