Nearly 8,000 guests flocked to the gala preview of the American International Fine Art Fair in Palm Beach last weekend. About 40,000 visitors are expected altogether to peruse the booths of 66 dealers, down from 84 last year.

The 15th edition of the fair, which runs through Feb. 13 at the Palm Beach Convention Center, offers up choice antiques to contemporary art from leading dealers such as London-based armor expert Peter Finer and new exhibitor Barry Friedman who specializes in 20th century decorative arts and avant-garde painting.

Among the fair's highlights is a large and bright painting by Gerhard Richter priced at $2.9 million at Galerie Terminus; Renoir's "Deux Pommes et Un Coins," offered for $560,000 at Waterhouse & Dodd; and from Todd Merrill, a Harvey Prober couch which sold for $45,000 on opening night, just one of several modern pieces that are catching collectors' eyes.

Parisian dealer Fabien Boulakia displayed paintings by Claude Monet and Kees van Dongan for $3 million each; Hammer Galleries has a special exhibit of Pierre-Auguste Renoir paintings, priced between $350,000 and $9.5 million; and of the several Fernando Botero works for sale across the floor, Leslie Smith Gallery of Amsterdam offered one for $803,000, according to the Palm Beach Post