Artprice by Artmarket publishes its 2023 Contemporary Art Market Report, showing a +2200% growth since 2000 and confirming that Art is a safe haven in times of major crises
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- A global turnover of $2.3 billion over 12 months (July 2022 - June 2023)
- The 4th best performance in the history of the Contemporary art market
- The segment's auction turnover has increased 22-fold since 2000/01 ($103 million)
- Contemporary Art represented 16% of the total Fine Art and NFT auction market ($14.1 billion)
- The segment saw yet another increase in transactions, to a new record of 123,450 lots sold over 12 months (+2%)
- The volume of transactions has multiplied by 10 since 2000/01 (when only 12,500 Contemporary lots were sold)
- Transactions above the million-dollar threshold fell by -22% (290 vs 372 in 2021/22)
- The segment's unsold rate remained stable at 34% (vs. 33% the previous year)
- The top price paid for a Contemporary work was $67.1 million (Jean-Michel Basquiat)
- The average auction price for a Contemporary art lot reached $18,600
- The USA was the world leader in this segment with an auction turnover of $857 million over 12 months
- The American market nevertheless (it posted $1 billion in 21/22)
- China was in second place with $744 million despite a 5% contraction ($785 million in 21/22)
- The UK was third with $376 million
- France was fourth with $46 million
- Japan was fifth with $40 million
- Christie's was the leading global auction operator in the segment with a turnover total of $650 million (hammering 31% of the segment's global total)
- Sotheby's was second with $595 million (28%) and Phillips was third with $260 million (12%)
- China Guardian was the leading Chinese auction house with a turnover total of $82 million (4%)
- Ketterer was the leading European auction house with a turnover total of $11 million (0.5%)
- 11 Contemporary works exceeded $10 million (compared with 20 in 21/22)
- 290 results above $1 million threshold (vs. 372 in 21/22)
- 54% of Contemporary lots sold for less than $1,000 (i.e. 66,600 works)
- Paintings accounted for 74% of the global auction turnover from Contemporary art
- Sculptures accounted for 10% and drawings accounted for 9%
- Prints (4%) generated double the turnover hammered for photographs (2%)
- 30,532 Contemporary artists had at least one auction result in 22/23
- 10 artists accounted for 27% of the global auction turnover from Contemporary art
Artist |
Nationality |
Turnover |
Lots sold |
Best result |
|
1 |
Jean-Michel BASQUIAT (1960-1988) |
USA |
$235,524,904 |
235 |
$67,110,000 |
2 |
Yoshitomo NARA (b.1959) |
Japan |
$97,737,808 |
460 |
$12,809,701 |
3 |
BANKSY (b.1974) |
UK |
$48,873,898 |
1,654 |
$9,724,500 |
4 |
Cecily BROWN (b.1969) |
UK |
$47,713,568 |
34 |
$6,711,450 |
5 |
Jeff KOONS (b.1955) |
USA |
$36,136,551 |
331 |
$16,992,500 |
6 |
Keith HARING (1958-1990) |
USA |
$35,807,795 |
1,006 |
$5,820,000 |
7 |
Christopher WOOL (b.1955) |
USA |
$33,671,700 |
50 |
$10,070,000 |
8 |
Damien HIRST (b.1965) |
UK |
$32,722,142 |
989 |
$2,220,000 |
9 |
George CONDO (b.1957) |
USA |
$32,064,762 |
97 |
$4,669,026 |
10 |
Mark GROTJAHN (b.1968) |
USA |
$30,025,287 |
24 |
$9,809,000 |
- The Ultra-contemporary segment generated $127 million in H1 2023
- Global turnover down 38% vs. H1 2022 ($206 million)
- The third-best semester in the Ultra-contemporary art segment since 2000
- In 23 years, the segment's turnover has grown 8.5 times (from $14.9 million in H1 2000)
- Ultra-contemporary art represented 12% of the total Contemporary art auction market
- Ultra-contemporary art represented 2% of global Fine Art and NFT auction turnover
- A total of 4,520 Ultra-contemporary artworks sold during H1 2023
- The segment's unsold rate was 34% (same as that for the Contemporary segment as a whole)
- The average price of an Ultra-contemporary work reached $28,100
- Paintings represent 80% of the Ultra-contemporary segment's auction turnover
- NFTs constituted the 2nd largest medium in this segment: $14 million (11%)
- Drawings accounted for 5.8% and sculptures for 1.5%
- The USA was the leading hub for the exchange of Ultra-contemporary artworks: $41 million (32%)
- Hong Kong hammered 31% of the segment's auction turnover and mainland China hammered 7%
- With a total of $26 million, the UK generated 20% of global Ultra-contemporary art auction turnover
- 2,646 artists under 40 had at least one auction result in H1 2023
- 5 women were in the Top 10 Ultra-contemporary artists by turnover
- A new record was hammered for Matthew Wong (1984-2019) at $6.6 million
- Ultra-contemporary NFTs generated a total of $14.2 million (vs. $5.3 million in H1 2022)
- NFTs represented 11% of the Ultra-contemporary art market
- The best selling NFT 2022/23 was Dimitry Cherniak's (b. 1988): Ringers #879 (The Goose) (2021) which fetched $6.2 million at Sotheby's in New York on 15 June 2023
Artist |
Auction turnover |
Lots sold |
Best result |
|
1 |
Matthew WONG (1984-2019) |
$14,116,706 |
7 |
$6,662,115 |
2 |
Dmitri CHERNIAK (b.1988) |
$7,110,450 |
7 |
$6,215,100 |
3 |
Lawyer HOLLOWELL (b.1983) |
$5,756,267 |
11 |
$2,292,383 |
4 |
Jádé FADOJUTIMI (b.1993) |
$4,288,516 |
15 |
$1,157,959 |
5 |
Avery SINGER (b.1987) |
$4,063,984 |
2 |
$4,063,451 |
6 |
Tyler HOBBS (b.1987) |
$3,962,699 |
11 |
$1,016,000 |
7 |
Ewa JUSZKIEWICZ (b.1984) |
$3,198,240 |
13 |
$762,371 |
8 |
LIANG Hao (b.1988) |
$3,140,164 |
1 |
$3,140,164 |
9 |
Lucy BULL (b.1990) |
$2,898,618 |
8 |
$1,206,207 |
10 |
Aboudia DIARRASSOUBA (b.1983) |
$2,880,822 |
43 |
$180,278 |
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