Booming stock market is fueling a mega-billion return to classic art and a backlash to junk

Still, collectors who flew from far corners of the globe to Miami for Basel said they were seeing great success, even if not seven figure sales. “I’m finding that there’s fabulous energy,” Christine Berry, co-founder of Berry Campbell Gallery in Manhattan, gushed to The Post, saying she had already sold nine paintings before the event had officially kicked off.

 

And the return to classic styles is rooted in more than mere money.

 

“In a robot world that seems increasingly impersonal, handmade objects and the spirituality that goes into them will be more appreciated than ever,” wagered the ex-hedge funder. “I think people are coming back and saying, ‘I have all this money, and I think my house will look better with art in it. I think my life will be better with art in it.’ ”

 

—Michael Kaplan and Andy Tillett, New York Post