Culture Talk

The Art Basel numbers are strong, but read the bit about who wasn't there

Everyone is quoting the $35m Picasso and Iwan Wirth's 'as strong a first day as we've ever had'. Fair enough. But the more telling detail for me is Artnet saying fewer American and Asian collectors attended, and Benjamin Godsill noting works between $200,000 and $2 million were selling well.

As an accountant, big headline sales from a few galleries tell you about the very top, not the depth. I'd want to know how the 290 galleries did on average, which no report gave. Anyone seen more detail?