‘The rich have got much richer’: why art sale prices are going through the roof

Auction houses are recording a boom in sales after a return to pre-pandemic levels of supplies of works

As a straight return on investment, it's hard to beat Untitled", a 1982 work by Jean-Michel Basquiat, the African American street artist who became a global cultural icon, featuring a horned African mask on an abstract background across a canvas almost 5m wide.

In 2004, the painting sold for $4.5m. Back on the market 12 years later, it fetched $57.3m, then a record for a Basquiat. This week, it went under the hammer in New York for $85m (68m), including fees, to a buyer from Asia.