Art Auctions Slide to $8.1 Billion as Picasso, Monet Dominate

Global art auctions cooled in the first half of 2015 but collectors chasing Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet and Andy Warhol ignored the slowdown.

Auction results slid 5.8 percent to $8.1 billion from the same period in 2014 because of weak sales in China, the U.K., France and Germany, according to figures released Wednesday by New York-based Artnet. Yet prices soared for trophy works as a smaller number of high value transactions dominated.