Capital gains at art extravaganza

A glittering fortnight of art sales at the upper end of the market gets underway in London next week.

Hundreds of millions of pounds worth of art will come under the hammer.

Christie’s, which has just announced their highest ever total of £4.5 billion global sales for 2013, says it will present the most valuable series of exhibitions and auctions dedicated to impressionist and modern; surreal; post-war and contemporary art ever held in London. They will offer major works by Picasso, Bacon and Jeff Koons, whose work is the world’s most expensive by a living artist.

His Balloon Dog, Orangesold for $58 million last year.

Sotheby’s will offer a Pissarro cityscape next Tuesday which they describe as one of the most important impressionist masterpieces on the market in the last decade.

Le Boulevard Montmartre, matinée de printemps is estimated at £7 million-£10 million.

Also on Tuesday evening, Sotheby’s will offer a great Surrealist masterpiece by Magritte.

in the following week, both houses will auction post-war and contemporary art.