these days paintings have become the soul of many a welldecorated home or office paintings say a great deal about the character of the owner and a collection of paintings brings an extraordinary sense of originality or uniqueness to a house or a corporate officeart market watchers in 2004 were a bit surprised when a picasso painting boy with a pipe soared to a record price of 102 million becoming the most expensive painting ever sold at an auctionbut just a few years later 100 million works of art arent all that unusual collectors now days are ready to pay as high as 130 million and 140 million for works by mf hussain gustav klimt and jackson pollockeven contemporary artists who dont normally command stratospheric prices mostly because their work hasnt been tested over time are edging into unknown territory recently at sothebys the top performing lots were alexander calders ebony sticks in semicircle which sold for 3050000 against an estimate of 10000001500000 and richard princes can you imagine which sold for 1150000 against an estimate of 600000800000 the most expensive work was jeff koons baroque egg with bow which failed to break the low estimate selling for 4800000 against an estimate of 6000000 8000000 followed by the cover lot martin kippenbergers untitled which scraped in just above the low estimate selling for 3600000an ink and pastel composition by jogen chowdhury fetched 609629 rs 29 crore at a sale of indian art in london setting a world auction record for the artist from bengal says brian simons a contemporary artist of repute inspite of the economic crunch everywhere ive had the best year ever so far sold more paintings thus far than in the same period of any other year sales through galleries are about the same and havent seen any change more sales via the website though the art business is difficult to understand and often doesnt follow the same trends as other businesses most sales are from individualsas the art market continues its bullish run many collectors are wondering how prices became so insane and how high they can go great paintings by celebrated artists have always drawn high prices frequently from experienced collectors looking for that one special piece to complete a collection a billionaire thinks on a different level says tripat kalra an india based gallerist if he thinks a painting is a cultural icon 100 million is not a bad price one manifestation of the art markets broad appeal increased visibility on the internet one site run by british megacollector charles saatchi lets artists show and sell their work for free the site has attracted more than 65000 artists and reportedly gets up to 900000 unique visitors a month artbyuscom is another such site to mention which enables artists to showcase their work at nominal fees wet canvas is an online living for artists where artists from different parts of the world meet and exchange ideas about art business and marketing