2014 record year for fine art. 2014 was another record year for the fine art market. Artprice-Artron annual report reveals that the fine art market achieved an historic result of $15.2 billion in public auctions, the equivalent of 26% growth compared to figures for 2013. This constitutes more than 300% growth over the past decade. The number of auctioned works remains relatively stable (505,000) but strong demand in the high-end of the market, especially in the West, has made prices shoot up in this area, explains Artprice. The report focuses on auction houses and leaves out the galleries. The figures also exclude the results in the decorative arts and design fields to exclusively focus on fine art (painting, sculpture, illustrations, etc.). China remains the most important customer with a sales product worth $5.66 billion but experienced a 5% fall. Traditional painting and calligraphy accounts for 84.3% of the Chinese market but these are down by 3.9% and contemporary art has fallen even further (14%). Its closest competitor is the US, which has increased its results in this area by 21%, with its best year in its history, with $4.88 billion in works sold at auction. The United Kingdom is in third place, with a figure of $2.87 billion, an increase of 35 points, further distancing itself from France ($496 million, a 10% fall). The results for million-dollar works sold at auction also hit another record: 1,679 works of art, four times as much as 10 years ago. 116 works sold above $10 million around the world in 2014. In 2005 there were only 18. Another characteristic of the market is the fact that the online environment has expanded it, with participants sometimes coming from around 200 different countries. Once again, globalisation facilitated by the mobile Internet. (Isabelle Lamberty)