Christie’s Art Sales Grow to Record With New Buyers

Christie’s sales of art and collectibles rose to a record 2.9 billion pounds ($4.5 billion) in the first six months of the year as demand from new clients increased.

The tally at London-based Christie’s, the world’s largest art broker, increased 7.4 percent from the same period in 2014 as collectors favored Impressionist, modern, postwar and contemporary works, the company said Monday in a statement. In May, Christie’s sold the most expensive artwork at auction, Pablo Picasso’s 1955 “Les Femmes d’Alger, (Version ‘‘O’’),” for $179.4 million.