London's £450m art sale

The booming market has attracted significant paintings by the likes of Monet, Matisse, Bacon and Freud which are, in turn, expected to lure the growing ranks of international collectors.

Sotheby's has only 45 lots in its Impressionist and Modern Art sale but the average estimated value of the works is around £1.2 million.

Meanwhile, Christie's is preparing for what it calls its most important Impressionist and Modern sale ever and also the most valuable post-war and contemporary sale to be staged in Europe.

The London art market as a whole has grown 600 per cent since 2002.

Impressionist and Modern art sales here have grown by 241 per cent, compared with 188 per cent in New York.

Since 1997 the average price paid for Impressionist works sold in London has increased five-fold and since 2002 contemporary sales in London have grown by 348 per cent against 185 per cent in New York.

However, there is still a little way to go to beat the New York art sale record - last month works worth £700 million went under the hammer.

Sotheby's vice-chairwoman Helena Newman said: "Five, six or seven years ago it looked like the market was always going to be New York and London would be a sideshow, but it has become the main driving force alongside New York.

"The reason why it feels so amazing in London at the moment is the intensity and speed of the growth.

"What we've seen is a very dramatic increase in the level of prices being achieved.

"It must be to do with the whole London
economy - that is the general view.

There's this extraordinary confluence of City money and money from the emerging markets - India, Russia and the Far East - where people feel happy to trade out of London and use it as their base."

Many City bonuses, which totalled £10 billion last year, have been ploughed into art.

For collectors, now is the time to purchase works that have not been on the market in years and whose quality is unrivalled.

Pilar Ordovas of Christie's said: "The appearance of significant works by Freud, Bacon, Warhol and many others presents a tremendous opportunity for today's international collectors seeking iconic works."