Art Basel 2011 Attracts Strong Sales

The four-day event, which drew 260 leading galleries from 30 countries, was attended by renowned collectors from across the world as well as a new generation of art enthusiasts and aficionados.

Speaking about this year’s fair, Iwan Wirth, President of the Hauser & Wirth gallery, said: “We are thrilled with the response and the continued confidence in investing at a museum quality level and moreover sculpture at a large scale.

“With strong sales to international collections from China, Europe, Mexico, Canada and the US, we further learned the global impact of our artists. We were impressed by a new seriousness in Miami, as collectors were committed and focused on acquiring major challenging works by artists in depth.”

Lucy Mitchell-Innes, Director of the Mitchell-Innes & Nash gallery, added: “At this year's Art Basel Miami Beach we saw a whole new generation of thirty-something collectors, seriously interested in looking and learning – and now buying as well, with many more women collectors making their own independent collecting decisions.”

Art Basel runs parallel to another major arts fair in Miami – Design Miami, which showcases interior decoration and decorative arts from around the world.