Two of the biggest names in the art world saw their works fall by half in 2009. Pieces by Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons, which were the hottest works through the beginning of 2008, could take as much as up to 10 years for their value to recover.

With the art market in distress in 09, the modern side suffered, and art collectors stayed far away from some of the riskier artists on the market. That, unfortunately, included Koons’ and Hirst’s works. Collectors felt it best to turn to Art Deco furniture or pieces from Old Masters in China instead.

However, Hirst and Koons still came out on top of the modern art side, as it dropped 75%, mostly because of auction houses’ abandoning of guaranteed minimum prices. According to Artprice, the art auction market increased by a factor of 10 from 2003 to 2008, with its price index for works by Hirst up 96% for the ten-year period ending in September 2008.

2010 may be the time to snatch up Hirst and Koons. It may take a decade for these artists to see their prices go up, but they did do pretty well over the past ten years.

Via: Luxist