Welcome back to Wall Power. I’m Marion Maneker.

Folks at Art Basel are just a little bit defensive about the fair’s success. Hauser & Wirth’s Iwan Wirth came out swinging tonight with a statement denouncing the “‘doom porn’ currently circulating in the art press and along gossip grapevines” and boasting that his gallery had “sold more work on the first day of Art Basel today than it did on the first day of last year’s fair.” Those sales included a $16 million Arshile Gorky drawing and a $3.5 million Louise Bourgeois sculpture. Meanwhile, Gladstone gallery sold a Jannis Kounellis wooden rose painting for $2.5 million and an Elizabeth Peyton for $1.35 million. And David Zwirner seems to have sold his $20 million Joan Mitchell Sunflowers painting.

We’ll know more by Sunday, when I’ll have an update on the state of the fair. Until then, I’ll just note that it’s not a surprise that galleries are doing well. The auction houses are scaling back, and there is traditionally a cycle where sales oscillate between private transactions and public auctions. When prices are stable or going down, it is often easier for buyers and sellers to transact through galleries; when the market is rising, works go to auction for price discovery.

The other art market cycle I’ve been following is the long swing between collectors chasing new talent and then gravitating back toward well-established, historical art, otherwise known as...

Generally, when someone points out these kinds of market pullbacks, I respond that I’m more impressed that...