The international art market, largely ignored by scholars, is defined and described in economic terms. A brief review of literature on the subject is presented, followed by a discussion of the economic structure of this market. It has been found to be an example of oligopolistic competition, and when market performance was examined, it was found to be fairly efficient and generally equitable. Several factors have hampered research in this area, namely, the guarding of price information and the inability to monitor price fluctuations over time. Hence, several attempts have been made to create art price indexes; these are reviewed, along with the reasons why they are inoperative. Finally, directions for present and future research efforts are suggested.