view of art activity in the market of such countries as China, UAE and India, and good results have been trading in the «traditional» regions (U.S., UK and France), the outcome of the auction for the first half of 2008 can be described as truly impressive. Financial Reports auction houses were forced to fall silent skeptics, it is expected that problems in the economic sector will inevitably have a negative impact on the results of public tenders. The level of sales in the first half of this year, denied even the most grim and alarming projections, amounting to 3.8 billion euros, equivalent to results obtained during the same period in 2007 - 3.7 billion euros. This year, 504 lots were offered a price in excess of one million euros. In 2007, «millions» proposal 517. Thus, the results on the art market repeat last year's, but do not exceed them.

The biggest surprise for analysts, presented the United Kingdom. She moved to the United States ranked by sales. British art auction yielded 1.5 billion pounds, which is 220 million more than during the same period last year. In London, 256 works were sold for more than a million euros. It is in the UK have been awarded two of the three most expensive deals in the world this year: in February at Christie's auction noname canvas of Francis Bacon (Francis Bacon) was sold for 31 million euro, and at the end of June, for 46 million euros have gone« Water lilies »Claude Monet (again, at Christie's). For the first time in 20 years, the British auction showed better results than the United States.

It is on Great Britain and the United States accounted for the bulk of total sales - 77%. And only 11% in the aggregate belongs to China and France, which followed them with a large margin (at the 3 rd and 4 th places, respectively).

In 2007, China for the first time ahead of France, which continues to decline. Despite the widely publicized in the press the May auctions, which were exhibited outstanding work of Francis Bacon and Louise Bourgeois Louise Bourgeois (Louise Bourgeois) , France broke the world record for the number of failed transactions: 50% of the proposed works have not been able to sell.

In the meantime, emerging markets such as China and the United Arab Emirates, have strengthened their position and become an alternative to the traditional. Sales in the UAE for the year grew by 150% and amounted to 20 million euros. As for the Chinese, it was sold to 4 thousand lots in the amount of 225 million euros. Patriotic Chinese buyers prefer the products of its artists: the 21 works of Chinese art was suggested price of about one million euros. China is moving to the top of the list, and in order to meet the demand, the growing pace of Olympic, auction houses are trying to maximize sales volume.

Sources: artprice.com