Art prices fell 35 percent in the first quarter of 2009, the Financial Times reports.

The decline was fueled by collectors unloading works, often at a loss, after losing money in the financial crisis, according to art-world insiders.

According to the Mei Moses Fine Art Index, which has tracked auction results going back to 1975, prices for postwar and contemporary art, popular with Wall Street, fell more than 30 percent, compared with an average rise of 20 percent a year over the past decade. Prices for less trendy Old Master works saw a smaller decline. In 2008 the index fell 4.8 percent overall.

The worst year on record is 1991, when prices dropped 41 percent, according to the producers of the index.