Art investing is an art

The art world is buzzing with excitement at the thought that someone has just paid over $100 million for an art work. To Sotheby's great delight, the star lot of the recent Whitney sale in New York: Picasso's 'Boy with the Pipe' painted in 1905, sailed past its $70 million estimate and smashed the fourteen year old record for a painting sold at auction previously held by the $82.5 million paid in 1990 for Van Gogh's 'Portrait of Dr Gachet'. Whilst Picasso at $104 million is decidedly steep for the majority of private, and indeed public, collectors there is no doubt that spectacular bids like this put the art market in the spot-light and people begin to talk about investing in art.