Art Basel: The blue-chip art bonanza ends on a high note

The 41st edition of Art Basel wrapped on Sunday, June 20, with rave reviews and strong sales. The world's largest modern and contemporary art fair, held along the Rhine in Switzerland, attracted more than 62,500 artists, collectors, curators, and art enthusiasts from around the globe, a new attendance record for the show.

More than 300 galleries from 36 countries exhibited works by over 2,500 artists. The overall consensus was that the material offered was of the highest quality with corresponding sales at a brisk pace.

“It was like 2007,” said Glenn Scott Wright, a director at London’s Victoria Miro gallery, to Bloomberg. Other exhibitors noted that prices have not fully recovered, but buyers responded well to "priced-right" works.

Dealers reported that Europeans and Americans were in a buying mood, wtih some returning Russian collectors, such as billionaire Roman Abramovich, as well as new Middle Eastern buyers.

Art boom darlings were back on a roll. Takashi Murakami paintings and sculptures sold upwards of $1 million at the stands of Blum & Poe and Emmanuel Perrotin.

A 9-foot-wide Damien Hirst jewel-cabinet, “Memories of Love,” priced at 2.35 million pounds ($3.48 million), was among several works by the British artist that sold at the booth of White Cube. Neil Wenman, of the London gallery, stated, "We are delighted with the exceptional critical and commercial response to the works on display, in particular Damien Hirst`s Blue Paintings and new works by Anthony Gormley. There has been a strong focus on Cerith Wyn Evans at the centre of our stand, as well as on Gabriel Orozco. This year ranks as one of our best performances in Basel."