British museums are being priced out of the market when it comes to acquiring artwork, a survey has suggested.

Research conducted by a UK charity, the Art Fund, found New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art spent £53.5m buying new works in 2004 and 2005.

The city’s MoMa gallery spent £20m. The Louvre in Paris allocated £16.8m.

But London’s National Gallery only spent £6.3m. Art Fund director David Barrie said the contrast was due to not enough funding and “rampant inflation”.

Auction prices for old masters and modern art have soared in recent years.

The UK’s four Tate Galleries spent a combined total of £4.8m in 2004 and 2005, while the British Museum spent £761,000.

Posted: 11|26|06 at 9:48 am. Filed under: UK News.