The art auction market in Romania amounted to some EUR 15.1 million in 2013, when the diversification in the market triggered an increase in the number of transactions, but also in the number of art items sold.

The recent Annual Report of the Romanian Art Market 2013, conducted by the Institute for Arts Management IMA, shows that heritage art continued to be the primary segment in art auctions, mainly art works by artists of national importance.

Last year, Stefan Luchian’s Doua Fete (Two Muses) was sold for the record amount of EUR 300,000.

However, contemporary art was last year’s “surprise of the art market”, with sales in national art auctions of around EUR 1.4 million, up 10 percent compared to 2012.

“However, despite the significant increases in the last three years, the Romanian contemporary art market is still in a process of gradual understanding and appreciation, far from the potential reached by other countries in the region, such as Poland, Russia, Ukraine and Turkey,” reads the report.

Besides the great artists in the Romanian art market, such as Grigorescu, Andreescu, Luchian and Tonitza, with several positions in the ranking, Victor Brauer also entered in the top 10 transactions on the local art market in 2013, with the painting Poetul Geo Bogza arata capului sau peisajul cu sonde, sold for EUR 120,000.

Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com