ART MARKET - Contemporary art taking over top selling lots

High prices for Imp/mod masterpieces--which have suffered from dwindling supply--are inconsistent, and since 2006 the most expensive paintings have been those by the postwar maestros Francis Bacon and Mark Rothko. Over the past five years, the annual total for contemporary evening sales has risen from $292 million to $1.8 billion, within $200 million of the Imp/mod figure. Will 2008 be the year when the forefathers of the avant-garde are outdone by their postwar successors?

November Reign (Artinfo)