Des O'Sullivan: Slimmed-down New York art sales still offer rich pickings for the mega-wealthy

At blue-chip levels, there are very few categories where the value of art has gone up in the past two years

Clockwise from top left, work by Piet Mondrian, Lisa Brice and Roy Lichtenstein.

In a tough year for the global art market, the big May New York art sales this month are seriously slimmed down but nonetheless offer rich pickings for collectors with deep pockets untroubled by market turmoil.

Auction data, the only section of the opaque art market with sales that can be computed accurately, indicates that overall turnover declined last year for the third year in a row.