Giorgio Verzotti, Artistic Director of Arte Fiera, BolognaFiere, Italy

In addition to the factors mentioned in the application, such as works featured in museums, art galleries and fairs or an invitation to a Biennale, a factor that is considered by many to be extremely important is an artist’s performance in auctions. This was the case recently in relation to the Italian art of the 1960s and 1980s with the so-called “Italian sales” that were conducted mainly in London. In that case, artists that were appreciated by the critics but not so much by the market achieved surprisingly high prices. It was very much related to single players such as Turi Simeti, or to artistic trends or art groups like Kinetic Art and the more recent Analytic Art. It can be said that these instances of «re-evaluation» originate from art galleries and museums, but the huge leap forward in popularity was determined by auctions.