Study Finds Paintings Featuring Blue and Red Hues Sell for the Most Money at Auction

The ever-shifting forces behind art market sale prices are notoriously difficult to pinpoint. Still, as Philip Hook, Sotheby’s senior director of Impressionist & Modern Art, argued in a 2013 op-ed for the Guardian, some factors remain relatively consistent across the board. Of the characteristics he isolated, perhaps the most important and elusive selling point was the “visceral impact” of a work, defined by a host of intangibles including emotional power, composition and color. Simply put, Hook observed at the time, “Blue and red tend to be good news.”