The colours of money

SARAH THORNTON is an art historian and sociologist who writes on art matters for prestigious journals, such as the Economist and the New Yorker. She is also the author of Club Cultures. Just as that book explored the underground rave scene in Britain, her latest, Seven Days in the Art World, sheds light on the machinations of the mysterious sub-culture that exists around the manufacture and sale of artworks.

Thornton’s decision to chronicle seven days, each spent in a different sector of the arts world, is inspired. She has gained access to events as diverse as a Sotheby’s art auction in New York, the Basle Art Fair in Switzerland and the Venice Biennale, and writes about each with the authority of one who loves art.