Global capital inflows converted the art world into an industry

Evidence

This had the benefit, however, of making art easier for “philistines” to buy, and the twenty-first-century art market saw an incoming rush of “Russian oligarchs, mysterious collectors in Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, and South Korea.” In 2006, a hedge-fund owner paid $143.5 million for a single Willem de Kooning painting. “The art world used to be a community,” remarked New York gallerist Jeffrey Deitch. “But now it’s an industry.” — W. David Marx, Blank Space, 726

Categorization

• XREF: The global oligarch buyers and $100M-plus single painting prices exemplify how moneyed collectors now drive culture, grounding the reader’s omnivore monoculture thesis.
• SHARE: The $143.5 million de Kooning purchase in 2006 is a vivid fact for an art-market friend.