One man's journey and the evolution of expertise.

In 35 years in the business, Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art dealer Antoine Van de Beuque has seen not only the art market evolve, but also its channels and players.

"When I started out, there were very few mobile phones. We mostly worked with faxes and telex. You had to attend auctions, hunt down catalogues, keep track of prices and memorize everything. These days, the internet provides a huge amount of information, at the risk of losing control, everyone knows everything about everything and everything leaves a trace. Whether you're an enthusiast or professional, all you have to do is subscribe to certain given websites to obtain real-time information about sales, valuation prices, sale prices and unsold works, etc."

Today, the art market is global and new collectors have stepped into the limelight. With the spread of the internet this process has become irreversible. In the Web 2.0 era, the players of yesterday have adapted to the new media (online auctions, fairs, virtual galleries, etc.). Online auctions are becoming increasingly common, because they tend to reduce the gap between demand and supply and facilitate remote transactions in real time at a reduced cost.

But surprisingly, there has been a huge influx of intermediaries onto this new global market. The work's price is almost never given, the commissions can be prohibitive and consignment sales risky. ArtViatic has thrown down the gauntlet and created a platform where collectors can converse in the utmost security and privately buy and sell exclusive works of art without any pressure from third parties and at significantly lower costs. It simply creates a brand new art market 2.0.

"As long as the item can be traced and authenticated, nothing will stop this process. This is the future of the art market, for auctions and private sales. If we want to stay in the game we, as art dealers, have to come to terms with this. And move with the times."