“La Lumière des Coïncidences” (The Light of Coincidences)

The prices of artworks are known to go up when there’s a rare piece at work, rare in subject matter, in style, in availability on the art market, and pretty much one of a kind.

They say the recession is affecting art prices (meaning the insanity level of the past few years has calmed down), but then it’s also saying the real interested buyers are still willing to shell out the big money for significant works and  the true art lovers are taking over the current art market since the newcomers don’t have purchasing art on top of their lists with the current economic state.

Some are also saying the weak economy is causing hesitancy among sellers to put their artworks out in the auction room. Souren Melikian from the NYT/Heral Tribune gives great insight on art auctions worldwide. He says there’s something else causing for meager sales in auctions like the Impressionist and Modern Art Sales this week. Aren’t these supposed to be the safe bets?

still life of flowers and fruits by Renoir

What concerned people, however, is that some of these works might become rarer  to find on the market according to the New York Times, “This week bidders were apparently keen to lay hands on whatever early Impressionist works with famous signatures are still around.” It means the bidders were trying to get their hands on the few works offered from this even though most were mediocre.  More can be read on The Rage to Buy Vanishing Art Works

This brings into question, what happens to all these artworks as cultural items, proofs of world cultural heritage, if they stay behind private doors? So rare and beautiful, will there be anything left for the public to view other than in an auction catalogue or an art auction news article every once in a while? What does this mean as art for the public, or does the public even care since these are the true connoisseurs of this kind of art with the right pocketbook that are competing amongst themselves for the possession of rare art items. or were the works  initially intended for many viewers or was one art appreciator enough?