Stellar results for Christie's mask deep fault lines in market

While that rarity explains the price, it also points to the precarious plight of the Impressionist and Modern art market. The day that picture enters a museum, which it will sooner or later, aspiring buyers will probably be left without an alternative, unless, with luck, one more emerges out of some forgotten cache. And that will be it. The triumph is a sad reminder that truly important Impressionist and Modern paintings are vanishing from the market. So far auction houses have been brilliant at upgrading what is left, but there are limits. Christie's pulled off a fantastic coup when it sold for £13.28 million a Degas pastel of two ballet dancers training to do splits. The clumsiness of some details makes the price quasi-miraculous, but looked at from a long-term perspective, this is not encouraging. Rarity plus name are the... [read full story]