MADRID, SPAIN.-As from 13th February, the 27th International Contemporary Art Fair is the centre of attention for the art market worldwide. At the new Halls 12, 14 and 14.1, the visiting public can find masterpieces by some of the great 20th and 21st century artists right next to affordable pieces for those starting their contemporary art collections. An extremely wide range of works covering the most diverse tendencies and media, from classic contemporaries to the newest of the new.

The variety of the works on view at ARCO8 will surely satisfy the expectations of both small and big investors, and very especially the many institutions, investment funds and corporations coming to the fair with a mission to spend, spend, spend. Art lovers can make their choices among a whole spectrum of works in all the movement and tendencies, from 20th century avant-gardes, to the most emerging and groundbreaking creation of today, in traditional supports and in new technologies. Works are available from around 3,500 artists, at a total of 295 galleries displaying a huge diversity of art creation to meet the demands of all type of collectors, from the tentative first-time buyer to the discerning hunter.

Masterpieces at ARCO8 - According to the info supplied by the galleries themselves, the piece with the highest selling price is an oil on canvas by Francis Bacon, titled Man at Washbasin, valued at a cool €23,200,000, on display at MARLBOROUGH.

In the top price range we also find a Concetto Spazziale, 1962 by the great Italian master Lucio Fontana, valued at a more affordable €2 million, exhibited at the stand of the Swiss gallery KARSTEN GREVE in the GENERAL PROGRAMME. Also hitting the €1 million mark, visitors can also find a photograph by André Kertész, the Hungarian artist considered one of the best 20th century photographers, whose piece The Fork/Die Gabel, Paris is on display along with other masterpieces of photography at the stand of the German gallery KICKEN BERLIN.

Below the €1 million cut-off line, but still in six figures, is a painting by Fernando Botero titled Hommage à Bonnard, gong for €960,000 at ORANGERIE-REINZ. In turn, the Paris-based gallery JEANNE-BUCHER has a superb colourist piece by Jean Dubuffet titled Personnagge, on sale for the round figure of €400,000. Looking at sculptures, the US GREENBERG VAN DOREN GALLERY is offering a plated and painted steel piece by the American Pop artist John Chamberlain, titled Whysecracks, for €225,000.

At THADDAEUS ROPAC, we can find two spectacular large format pieces: a painting by the German expressionist Georg Baselitz titled In Kriegstagen-Caspers Kopf, valued at €440,000, and the mixed media Twenty-one Haunts by Gilbert & George at €300,000.

The historical avant-gardes are very well-represented at ARCO8, offering investors pieces by great 20th century masters. We just have to take a look at the stand of MANUEL BARBIÉ, offering collectors a superb oil on sandpaper from 1935 by Joan Miró, formerly on loan for 22 years at the MoMA of New York and now on sale at ARCO for €750,000.

In the same line, the French gallery 1900*2000 offers, among other masterpieces, the oil painting Chevalier by the avant-garde artist born in the Canaries Óscar Domínguez, valued at €220,000; while LEANDRO NAVARRO is selling a landscape by the great Italian master Giorgio Morandi for €630,000. High-priced works by Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, Max Ernst, Wifredo Lam and André Masson are on sale at various stands in the GENERAL PROGRAMME, but visitors may find more affordable pieces by great 20th century artists, like Oiseau au Ver, a ceramic work by Pablo Picasso on sale at ORANGERIE-REINZ going for a snap at €2,000.

Art for All - ARCO has something to suit every pocket or the cautious starter. The bottom line is marked by a plaster cast by Benjamín Torres titled Contenido Neto, 2006, that may be bought at LA CAJA NEGRA for a staggering €25! Similarly, 1900*2000 has some colour drawings by the French artist Ben for €700, and at CATHERINE PUTMAN we can find a graphic work by Sophie Ristelhueber titled À cause de l´élevage de poussiere for €920.

Spanish galleries are also exhibiting a wide range of affordable pieces. For instance, at WINDSOR KULTURGINTZA we have photographs and paintings by Fernando Villena from a starting price of €900; TRAVESIA 4 is showing drawings by the Madrid-based artist Guillermo Martin Bermejo for that same price; and SENDA is selling ink on paper works by the young Catalan artist Jordi Ribés, valued at €1,000.

Moving up a notch to a mid-range of prices, collectors and art lovers have a lot to choose from at ARCO8. Take for example a sculpture in wood, rice and lacquer, titled Reishaus, by the German Wolfgang Laib, on sale at the stand of RIZZIERO ARTE for €100,000. An acrylic painting by Luis Gordillo, valued in €95,000, is on show at RAFAEL ORTIZ. In turn, LA CAJA NEGRA is offering Bedroom, 1991, a xilograph and silkscreen by the Pop Art master Roy Lichtenstein, valued at €70,000; and the FUCARES stand is selling for €40,000 a piece by the renowned representative of the so-called German School, Candida Höfer, titled Biblioteca Cappuccini Redentore Giudecca.

Investing in Emerging Art - The price range of the works on exhibit in the curated programmes at ARCO more focussed on emerging artists goes from a very modest €100 all the way up to a respectable €300,000. To find one of the most affordable pieces on sale at the fair we will have to go to VANE, a British gallery in the SOLO PROJECTS section, which is selling Red Creeper, 2007, a lithograph by artist Morten Schelde, for just €120. On the other end of the scale, and also in this programme of one-man shows, URS MEILE, a Swiss gallery specialising in Chinese art, is selling a huge sculpture titled Big Pingpong by Li Songsong for €300,000.

The most expensive work in EXPANDED BOX, the video-art and new technology section, is the installation Infinito al Cubo by Rejane Cantoni –a large 3 metre cube on sale for €120,000 by the Brazilian gallery BARÓ CRUZ. This curated space also boasts pieces of electronic art like the sound installation Luci, 2007 by José Manuel Berenguer, brought to ARCO8 by the gallery LLUCIÀ HOMS with a value of €15,000, or a video work by Tomás Ochoa, Contagio, 2005, 16’54’’, available at TRIBECA for €11,000.

The above is just a tiny examples of the wide variety of works on display at ARCO8, made in an equally varied scope of media and styles, on sale within a very elastic price range. Something of interest to major collectors visiting the fair in the Guest Collectors Programme, of institutions, and something for all those art lovers that are taking their first step in small-scale collecting stimulated by their passion for contemporary art.