Art is often presented as an investment of last resort or a potential safe haven in times of political or financial … distress. Yet, as no study has focused on the performance of art markets in times of crisis, this paper fills this gap by means … of unclosing historical auction archives. We trace the long-term performance of the UK art market, which we relate to …

Is art a safe haven in times of political or financial crisis? We trace the long-term performance of the UK art market … digitalized historical auction archives to construct art price indices from the early 20 th century onwards. Annual art auction … 3.6% and 20.1%, respectively.Art returns plummeted at the onset of wars, but in the later years of war periods, returns …