On the methods of price fluctuations analysis in the art market

Abstract

The present article is devoted to the price fluctuations analysis of the one of the most (if not the most) difficulty describing modern markets, namely, the art market. This would be done on the example of the trading with artworks of three specially selected masters — Camille Pissarro, Paul Cezanne and Rene Magritte. Thus, this survey, first, has a monographic character in relation to the markets of the required artists, identifying (1) the variation features in the sales of their works; (2) the factors affecting average prices and turnover of the monuments of the masters; (3) the regularities of changes over time of the consumer demand for the creative heritage of Pissarro, Cezanne and Magritte. Secondly, proceeding from the logic connection within one operation of the monographic data about absolutely different (for the period of life, belonging to the stylistic direction, painting technique etc.) authors, the comparative analysis of the processes typical for a phenomenon of purchase and sale of their works is carried out. For this purpose, receptions and methods of variation, correlation, factorial and dynamic analyses are used. The study concludes with an attempt to forecast the expected trends in the three masters markets, which, in turn, cannot fail to affect the whole set of trade operations with art, otherwise, the art market in general. As a result, the presented work has in parallel scientific, theoretical and purely applied results. Some fill the treasury of a new branch of the statistical disciplines, which designation is logically forms into the term “art statistics”, introduced into scientific circulation by this article; others can be applied by collectors and investors for making business decisions.