Business Notes AUCTIONS

Picasso went through his Rose and Blue Periods, and now his works have taken on a greenish hue. At least that is how investors see them. Betting that fine art will appreciate more quickly than stocks and other investments that have been sluggish since the Black Monday crash, high rollers have sent auction prices for masterworks skyrocketing to unheard of levels. Earlier this month a 1923 Picasso painting titled Birdcage was auctioned for a record $15.4 million, only to be topped four days later by the sale of the 1901 Motherhood for $24.8 million. Then last week a 1905 gouache titled Acrobat and Young Harlequin was sold at a London auction for $38.4 million, a record for a 20th century painting. The buyer was identified as Akio Nishino, head of fine arts for Tokyo's Mitsukoshi department store. Only two other canvases, Van Gogh's Irises ($53.9 million) and Sunflowers ($39.9 million) have brought more.

The frenzied bidding has gone so high that many serious collectors and museums on tight budgets are being priced out of the market. But no ceiling is in sight. Says Richard Feigen, a Manhattan art dealer: "Investors have converted art into a financial instrument. The process isn't going to change."