The art market is one of the most controversial areas of artistic life, both among those directly involved and those observing from the outside. This book explores the changes that have occurred in the Western art market since the early 2000s, its structure and contradictions, and the main theoretical approaches to its analysis. Here, the art market is understood not so much as a mechanism for buying and selling works of art, but as a space where economics, philosophy, art, and sociology collide. This phenomenon provides food for thought about the value of art, allowing us to look at the history of the relationship between the art world and the world of money, and to understand the reasons why collectors feel compelled to buy artists' works, and why artists devise alternative ways of interacting with the market.
The book is intended for a wide range of readers interested in the history of art and the art market of the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as specialists in cultural studies and the economics of art.