2013 sees record art sales

This has been a very good year for art sales. Thanks to works by Freud, Koons, and Warhol the world’s leading auction houses are celebrating a booming year.

The $142m spent on Francis Bacon’s Lucien Freud triptych is a mere fraction of the art market this year and the same sale saw a Jeff Koons sculpture, Balloon Dog, change hands for $58.4m

It doesn’t matter that there’s a global recession on – the art market is booming and according to auction house Christie’s that’s at all levels, including the under £100,000 mark.

In fact the auction house reports sales of all works increased by 10% last year to nearly $6.3bn and this year’s figures are up a further 9% on last year.