Red is the colour as global art market comes storming back after global financial crisis

LONDON – Sales next week at London’s Sotheby’s and Christie’s auction houses are expected to generate at least 400 million pounds ($658 million), as the top-end art market puts the global financial crisis behind it.

Buyers from emerging markets including China are helping drive art prices to new highs.

In sales of Impressionist, modern and Surrealist art, Christie’s is selling Pablo Picasso’s “Woman in a Turkish Costume” — estimated at up to 20 million pounds — and a still life by Juan Gris valued at up to 18 million pounds.

A few blocks away at Sotheby’s, sales include Vincent Van Gogh’s “Man is at Sea” and Lucian Freud’s portrait “Head on a Green Sofa.”

Several of the most valuable works are red, a colour Sotheby’s says is favoured by some Asian collectors.