Although the evening sales hold the glamour and ginormous prices, the day sales are a better measure of the health of the Contemporary art market. With 832 lots sold during the week’s day sales, the sample is larger and the prices are more indicative of the broader art market.
Combining all three houses, $132,043,976 in Contemporary art was sold. The average price of those 832 lots was $158,706. These numbers—sale volume, lots sold and average price—have remained remarkably consistent since the Spring of 2010 sales suggesting that the Contemporary market has settled into a solid and re-assuring groove.