Big paintings taking over the market

Canvasses sold at auction are getting bigger. The trend is not new, but has been exceptionally marked this year, when the average surface area of paintings sold has risen by 5.53%.

Generally, the average surface area of paintings edges up by less than 1% per year. In 2002, paintings sold at public auction were on average 54.54cm high and 59.01cm wide, an average surface area of 3218.4cm². This sudden jump in the size of paintings reflects the current fashion for contemporary art, which has gained considerable ground at auction in recent years. Contemporary artists tend to take up more space than those of previous generations.

In general, paintings tend to be broader than they are high. Landscape format works account for 64% of all transactions. However, buyers seem less enamoured with this format, which are selling for an average of EUR6.5/cm² in 2002, than with portrait format paintings (higher than they are wide), whose average price in 2002 is EUR9.1/cm². Landscape format paintings are also smaller overall (surface area 11% smaller on average) than portrait format.

This increase in average surface area is bound to affect the average price of paintings: artworks are getting bigger and also more expensive. The Artprice monthly price index (calculated on the basis of rates of return for similar works of art) is designed to capture the wide diversity of different types of work, and takes no account of the average size being sold. In the first eight months of the year, the index rose by 8%. But once we factor in the rise in size, we find the average price (arithmetical average) of canvasses sold at auction rose by 27.9%!

Average surface area of paintings sold at auctions1 in² = 6.45 cm²