Art Record Expected To Go

A sale of Impressionist and modern masterpieces in New York next month is poised to become the highest-earning art auction on record. A Blue Period Picasso owned by composer Lord Lloyd-Webber, and four works by Gustav Klimt are expected to fetch up to $490 million (£260 million) when they go under the hammer at Christie’s in New York on November 8 and 9. The four Klimts are together expected to sell for about $140 million. Lord Lloyd-Webber’s Picasso up to $60 million. Prices have not been this buoyant since 1990, the year before the art market crashed. Russians are said to feature among the new-money art collectors competing with established American buyers such as Steve Wynn, the Las Vegas casino owner, Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder, and Ronald Lauder, heir to the cosmetics fortune. For the full story - click the title Irish Art