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Home Insync Insync oi-Staff By SUPER ADMIN Thursday, May 26, 2011, 16:21 LONDON, June 14 (Reuters) A series of art auctions kick off in London with the prospect of collectors parting with up
to 1 billion dollar in a five-day spending spree. With the market for Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary works of art booming and record prices attracting top quality works to be put
forward, auctioneers expect a hectic series of sales. The list of works on sale reads like a ''who's who'' of the art world from the 19th to the 21st century,
ranging from Monet, Matisse and Picasso to Bacon, Warhol, Emin and Hirst. ''The art market is very strong across the board,'' Philip Hook, director of Impressionist and
Modern art at Sotheby's, said at an auction preview yesterday. ''It is bringing onto the market the very best pictures.'' Top feature of the week will be rival
auction houses Sotheby's and Christie's going head-to-head with competing works by Monet priced at up to 15 million pounds and 12 million pounds respectively. The auction houses,
including Phillips de Pury, reckon they could generate sales of around 450 million pounds between them over the five days -- or just shy of $1 billion. The daytime sales are expected to set
a frenetic pace, knocking down some 80 lots an hour to buyers in the room and on telephones, while the richer evening sales are expected to work at a more modest pace of two minutes per
item. ''The sales here in London are the strongest we have ever seen,'' Jussi Pylkkanen, head of Impressionist and Modern art at Christie's told Reuters.
''But this is a very different place from the boom days of the late 1980s. There is a really solid core to the market with strength across all sections,'' he added. Hook
reckons his Monet waterlilies -- not seen in public for 70 years and priced at 10-15 million pounds -- is in the running to set a dollar record for the artist's work. ''There
is no shortage of money for good works of art,'' he said. ''But the key thing about this is that really good works are being tempted onto the market so the quality is
rising steeply. You would not have seen this Monet a year ago.'' And while the mega-rich Russian, Chinese and Asian art buyers are a major driving force and accounting for a
steadily rising share of auction values, American and European collectors are still in there at all levels. ''We have works of incredible quality being offered by clients from all
over the world and being bought by clients all over the world,'' said Pylkkanen. ''This has given a core strength to the market that it has never had before,''
he said. ''It is not just old world buying old masters. There is a new generation of buyers with tastes ranging from Impressionist to Post-War and Contemporary.'' More
From Boldsky Article Published On: Thursday, May 26, 2011, 16:21 [IST]