Eye-watering prices

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Dutch art fair organiser Tefaf last valued the global art market at US$45 billion (S$60 billion) in the 2017 Tefaf Art Market Report. In the contemporary art market, just 25 artists accounted for nearly half of public auction sales, reported artnet. This has been called a "winner takes all market" as a disproportionate amount of money is concentrated in a small number of pieces. Here are three pieces in the world of art and antiques which have fetched eye-watering sums.

Orange, Red, Yellow is a 1961 painting by Mark Rothko that sold at a Christie's auction for a record US$86,882,500 in 2012. It is one of the most expensive pieces of contemporary art sold.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on June 16, 2018, with the headline Eye-watering prices. Subscribe