Last month an impressive untitled painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat from 1982 sold for $110.5 million at Sotheby’s.

Regardless of the high quality of the work, that’s too much to pay for just about anything (“I decided to go for it,” said the buyer, Japanese fashion billionaire Yusaku Maezawa) and it’s already having an effect on the rest of the art market.

The New York Times reports today that while contemporary art, often made by artists still alive who are able to take advantage of opportunities like collaborate with fashion brands or produce Instagram-friendly tableaus, remains hotter than ever, the market for more traditional art, the kind of things you might see in museums, has dropped off dramatically. read more