The Auction Houses Were Circling

H/T to Art Market Monitor for calling attention to observations by Alistair Sooke concerning expensive paintings and the people who buy them. He includes this glimpse of auction-house competition from Kate Ganz, the daughter of art collectors Sally and Victor Ganz:

“Right after my mother died – she died second – we were inundated by teams of people from Sotheby’s and Christie’s descending on the house,” Ganz recalls. “That was fairly uncomfortable, but that’s their job. Now it’s all computerised – they have on their computers the 50 most important collectors in the world, how old they are, when they’re going to die, and who’s going to inherit what. As my mother used to say: ‘The vultures are circling’.”