Art investing is an art

The art world is buzzing with excitement at the thought that someone has just paid over $100 million for an art work. To Sotheby's great delight, the star lot of the recent Whitney sale in New York Picasso's 'Boy with the Pipe' painted in 1905, sailed past its $70 million estimate and smashed the fourteen year old record for a painting sold at auction previously held by the $82.5 million paid in 1990 for Van Gogh's 'Portrait of Dr Gachet'. Whilst Picasso at $104 million is decidedly steep for the majority of private, and indeed public, collectors there is no doubt that spectacular bids like this put the art market in the spot-light and people...