Recap: Art Has Vintage Year, Yazzy's at www.williamverdult.com

According to Bloomberg news, as the rest of us clear away the wrapping from our Christmas presents, the art world looks back on a bumper 12 months of goodies. Record prices have leapfrogged one other. At one point Lucian Freud was the most expensive living European artist at auction for all of 24 hours before being overtaken by Damien Hirst.

It's been that kind of year. The question is, will we suffer a collective hangover in the months to come? In that respect, Mark Wallinger, the winner of the U.K.'s Turner Prize, may have been prescient. A number of heads were scratched over the piece he exhibited at Tate Liverpool, in which the artist was seen wandering around a Berlin art gallery dressed as a bear.

Life often imitates art. Wallinger's victory was proclaimed at a time that bears seemed to be cropping up everywhere -- in the stock market, in Sudanese classrooms. Prime Minister Gordon Brown's weekly mauling in parliamentary questions was compared, by Andrew Gimson of the Daily Telegraph, to the archaic sport of bearbaiting.

The crack of doom inserted in the floor of Tate Modern by the Colombian artist Doris Salcedo does not seem to have been an omen for the Tate. What it portends for the rest of us is less clear.

Just before Yuletide, Hirst, transforming himself from shark-pickler to Santa, presented a cache of his work to the Tate. This was only one of a series of spectacular gifts received by that lucky institution.

Sainsbury Donation

In October, a remarkable bequest by the late Simon Sainsbury was announced. This, valued at up to 100 million pounds ($200 million), included pictures by such painters as Balthus, Bacon and Freud, thus plugging several holes in the museum's collection. Another portion of this donation -- incorporating remarkable canvases by Monet and Degas -- goes to the National Gallery.

A fortnight before Christmas, the crisis-ridden British government, a yet more improbable Santa, found 50 million pounds to put toward the cost of the proposed Tate Modern extension. This, designed by the Swiss architecture company Herzog & de Meuron, resembles a gigantic pile of shiny parcels.

Back in June, Hirst -- who was seldom out of the headlines in 2007 -- unveiled his platinum and diamond skull (properly known as ``For the Love of God''). Priced at 50 million pounds, this succeeded in being the most outrageous symptom of the ``affluenza'' gripping the super-wealthy, and simultaneously a sardonic comment on it. A skull, after all, carries the traditional implication that you can't take it with you.

Skull Sale

On the other hand, the artist and dealer seemed to have some trouble in disposing of this one, at least at the asking price. Its sale was finally announced to a group of which Hirst himself turned out to be a member. This has fueled the feeling that some recent art transactions could have been a trifle sub-prime.

At the National Gallery, the popular director, Charles Saumarez Smith, suddenly resigned in the spring amid rumors of strife with the chairman of the trustees. For months, this looked like a crisis for the institution. Finally, Nicholas Penny was chosen as a successor, to widespread approval. The gallery enters 2008 in unexpectedly good shape.

As the festive season approached, only the poor Royal Academy looked as if it had drawn a booby prize when, Scrooge- like, the Russian government suddenly canceled a blockbuster loan exhibition, due to open on Jan. 26.

The British government today put a law in place to protect the artworks from seizure. Russian officials had said the pictures may travel if the British government gave the right guarantees. The Royal Academy is now confident the show will go ahead. We shall soon find out.