The Times of London makes this interesting connection between the record-setting London sales announced last week and the beginnings of the modern art market as described in Philip Hook’s book:

According to The Ultimate Trophy, a recent book on the auction world, the Modern Art market was born at Sotheby’s in London on October 15, 1958. In a single sale consisting of only seven paintings and conducted in front of celebrities such as Kirk Douglas, Somerset Maugham and Dame Margot Fonteyn, the world record price for a work of art was broken four times.The first lot under the hammer that night, Manet’s stern Self-Portrait with a Palette, is now up for auction again in this month’s Sotheby’s sale, estimated at £20 million to 30 million.

Art shrugs off financial crisis as buyers prepare for richest sales yet (Times of London)