Art Basel 2001: Market Booms Despite Stock Turmoil

At Art Basel 2001, the art market thrived despite recent stock market turbulence, with strong sales driven by American collectors and museum curators. Dan Graham's 1976 Biennale di Venezia piece, 'Public Spaces/Two Audiences,' which critiqued art fairs as commercial spectacles, was echoed in the fair's many white cubes. Bill Viola's four-film series, priced at $250,000 per edition, sold out immediately at Anthony d'Offay's stand. Luc Tuymans' paintings fetched around $100,000 each, while Gerhard Richter's large abstract canvas from 1989 sold for $1.4 million at Beyeler, and a smaller work went for $400,000 at Art et Public. Felix Gonzalez-Torres' golden bead curtain sold for $1.2 million at Andrea Rosen Gallery, following a record $1.6 million auction at Christie's in November 2000. Anri Sala's video 'Promises' sold for 60,000 francs to multiple collectors. Gallerist Bernard Jacobson noted that gallery prices often undercut auction prices, citing a Morris Louis abstract sold for $250,000 versus $750,000 at auction. Dan Graham's prediction that the art market would become a themed Disneyland was realized.