Have Some Russian Collectors Lost Patience with the Art Market?

Colin Gleadell has noticed a new trend:

There is growing evidence that wealthy Russians, who were driving the market as buyers, are now also sellers, trying to recoup the high prices they paid during the boom of 2007/2008. A Seurat and Derain at Sotheby’s both sold for much the same prices as before, but a Fauvist view of the Seine in 1906 by Vlaminck, thought to have been bought by Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili in 2007 for £2.7 million, came back with a £2.8 million estimate, and did not sell.

Art sales: reward for a prized, precious few (Bloomberg)