NEW YORK: In an upbeat observation, New York art dealers say that the world’s largest art market may finally be emerging from a three year recession as hungry buyers bid prices above their million dollar price tags.

In a heady week at the two biggest art dealers, Sotheby’s and Christie’s, auctioneers have knocked up a combined $430 million in sales, the likes of which have not been seen in years.

Sotheby’s paints a portrait of a market firmly in recovery mode: “Explosive bids, buoyant sales, a fantastic success for the contemporary art market,” it said in a statement.

Over at rival Christie’s, the auction room atmosphere was depicted as “fast and furious.”

“The rebound in the art market that we have seen this fall is very encouraging and our outlook for the fourth quarter is extremely positive,” said bullish Sotheby’s president William Ruprecht.

Ruprecht spoke as his auction house reported $74.56 million in sales on Thursday, its second-highest total for an auction of contemporary art since 1989.

The renewed hunger for pricey works of art marks a rebound in demand, according to art world watchers.

Deep-pocketed buyers are sinking millions into works by Roy Liechenstein, Mark Rothko and Willem de Kooning amongst others.

In an indication of demand, sales at Sotheby’s and Christie’s totalled $284.4 million for impressionist works, and over $149.1 million for contemporary works, in the week to Thursday.

Sotheby’s impressionist sales have doubled since the Spring.—AFP