As Art Basel opens, buyers confront a ‘cooling’ but still very active market

By JAMES BROOKS
Associated Press

BASEL, Switzerland (AP) — Multimillion-dollar works by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Yayoi Kusama and Alberto Giacometti went on the market as the Art Basel fair opened in Switzerland. Thousands have flooded the exhibition center for VIP previews before doors open to public Thursday. More than 280 galleries exhibited everything from paintings and sculpture to video installations and performance art in what one expert called the “Super Bowl of the art world.” A new report linked to the market found that sales fell last year and were particularly thinner at the top end of the market. But transaction volume grew, driven by sales at lower price levels.