Sotheby's stock crashes

A few days ago, Sotheby's had a "disappointing evening". The biggest failure was the buy-in of one of Van Gogh's last paintings. Yesterday, Sotheby's had to announce that it lost $14.6 million on auction guarantees at the sale. Last week's events led to a plunge of the Sotheby's stock.

A shift of interest from subtle to brutal

Souren Melikian of Art + Auction on an important work by Jean-Honoré Fragonard - a study for Le Verrou (see picture) - that didn't find a buyer at the Sotheby's Old Masters evening sale in London two monts ago:
"If proof were needed that art cannot be an investment based on calculated risk, this is it. For the one thing that can never be forecast on the basis of rational arguments is the evolution of what we call taste or fashion."