http://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/14/nyregion/a-renoir-leads-a-...
http://oneartworld.com/artists/P/Pierre-Auguste+Renoir.html?...
Indeed. Thing of it is, though, if you look at the "traditional" artists, those outside the bubble, they seem to be trading about where people expect them to trade. And they will likely continue to do so. Until, at some point, people are no longer interested in them, or they become interested in someone else.
I've been fond of Richard Dadd for quite a while. I like his style, and the fact that he was batshit crazy adds a little. Likewise, Louis Wain - his descent into schizophrenia and the effect on his art is Psych 101 stuff. However, most people really don't give much of a shit - you can buy original Wain watercolors for about $12k.
Richard Dadd was similarly unknown for most of the 20th century. Then something changed. That something was The Antiques Roadshow:
http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_ob...
The Tate did a retrospective because of that.
The other thing to keep in mind is that the longer an artist is around, the more likely his art is to end up in a museum somewhere. Here's a completely unsubstantiated theory - there's simply more shite nouveau art available than Dutch Masters so there's more of a market for speculators.
Are the same people who collect Dutch masters collecting Mr. Brainwash? I don't think so. I have no evidence of that. I know that the art I like tends to be pretty similar. I like surrealism, I like lush, and I like landscapes. Which means I favor Klimt, Magritte, Dali, Escher, Parrish, Bierstadt and Terbush. They all have this in common: each and every one of those fuckers knows how to paint. Someone posted a Basquiat up in here a couple days ago - I hate Basquiat. "Primitive?" Unskilled. My opinion, my opinion alone - but opinion is what drives purchasing.
A friend of mine created the "SoCo&Lime" campaign. There's a painting of hers hanging in the gear room. She'd totally do art for a living if she could; instead she's client-side. We'll see what the future holds, right?
Your aside is interesting. My motto has long been "work hard, be nice, don't suck." A lot of people forget that being on time and doing the job adequately is 90% of it if you are also a pleasure to work with.