ArtNews magazine published a full list of the major collectors of contemporary art. It became one Russian - billionaire Roman Abramovich, has committed to the art market of the major purchase this year

Every summer in influential American magazine ArtNews a list of the most important collectors of art on the planet. ARTinvestment.RU already wrote about ten collectors ranked in the first place ranking . Recently has been published and a complete list.

In the Top-200 included some very famous people, including Microsoft Co-founder Paul Allen, the composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and the famous artist Damien Hurst, who even going to open a museum to display his collection .

This year the list has appeared, and our compatriot Roman Abramovich. The former governor of Chukotka remember all of his multimillion shopping: in May he was one stroke broke two records. May 14 at Sotheby's gained Abramovich «Triptych 1976» Francis Bacon became the most expensive picture bought in 2008. A day earlier, bought at Christie's a portrait of obese Inspector benefits Russian billionaire Lusiena Freud ascended into first place in the list of sponsors of the most expensive works of living artists . On the largest fair of contemporary art «Art Basel» Abramovich with his girlfriend, Darey Zhukova ( initiated establishment in Moscow Center of Contemporary Culture , which is scheduled to open in September 2008), were almost the most welcome guest.

In addition to Abramovich, the rating went down another billionaire from the former Commonwealth of Independent States - Ukrainian Viktor Pinchuk. Founder Interpipe Group and son-in-law of former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma can boast one of the best collections of modern European art.

Actually the list is well reflected the main trend is the art market in 2008: fewer and fewer positions it took the Americans, and more - born in the Middle East, Latin America and Eastern Europe. They are still far from being as much as residents of the United States or Western Europe, but the most incredible purchase they make. Thanks billionaire from countries with rapidly developing economies, auctions of works of Impressionism, Modernism and Contemporary Art Christie's and Sotheby's are experiencing unprecedented prosperity. Multimillion works of Francis Bacon, Lusiena Freud, Jeff Koons are sent to Dubai, Moscow, Mexico City ... But many analysts have drawn attention to the fact that the success of the recent auction giant concealed the fact that many billionaire simply not enough alternative sites for investment. Madly expensive purchase commit primarily natives of countries that barely touched on the economic crisis. Due to the fact that the Indian, Arab and Russian rich are interested almost exclusively sverhdorogim art, at the lower price segment looming crisis (recession exhausted because Americans do not want to buy anything). This proves the recent auctions of contemporary art works: while Sotheby's and Christie's have been a great success, a «modest» auction of the same category of Phillips de Pury & Co. failed. Browser Canadian newspaper Globe and Mail Mike Collett-White calls the current situation at the art-market «house of cards». Does this house collapse, as happened in the early 1990's? .. Then one of the most aggressive participants in the Japanese market have been earned in a tremendous state of «economic bubble». Time will tell how soon burst today «bubble» in the market of art ... and whether it burst. Some experts say that it is the globalization of the art market and the emergence of an increasing number of buyers from the economic boom (which make the acquisition not only in the highest, but on the average price segment) will be able to protect it from collapse.

The list of Top-200 collectors of works of art can be found here .

Julia Maksimova

Sources: artnews.com , globeandmail.com , artinvestment.ru