«I JUST READ EVERYTHING»

Corporate raiders a generation ago typically held their art purchases for at least a decade. Today, the average holding period for contemporary art is two years, according to a former Sotheby's specialist. That is enough time to reap a tidy profit on a rising-star artist but hardly enough for art history to rule on the artist's lasting merits.

Differing tactics abound, but taken together this group of hedge-fund collectors arguably influence the prices and popularity of the world's top artists—from mainstays like Claude Monet to newer hits like Jean-Michel Basquiat—to an extent unmatched by all but emirs and oligarchs.

-Wall Street Journal
 Jan 26 2014