BERN: Even the high-end art market was less frothy in 2020 than 2019 due to restrictions placed on galleries, auctioneers and collectors by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Still, fine art remained big business and sold well. The top 10 sales at auction fetched a total of $453 million. In that group, only two paintings exceeded the $50 million mark in 2020, while nine out of the ten lots topped $50 million in 2019.
The numbers may be smaller but they are eye-watering nonetheless. Even pop art sold: A drawing by Belgian artist Herge depicting his character Tintin sold for $3.1 million at auction earlier this month — the highest price ever paid for comic book art.