Contemporary art market: our report is now online!

[05.10.2021]

All in all, the Contemporary Art auction market saw its global turnover contract -34% over the 2019/2020 period as it rushed to stop the hemorrhage caused by the “panic” of March 2020 and the complete stoppage of auctions. Fortunately, the subsequent organization of online sales offset the closure of galleries and auction rooms and the recovery that followed this past year (end-June 2020 to end-June 2021) has taken the global Contemporary Art Market to a new all-time high, both in terms of turnover and transaction density.

With the help of strategies offering a large number of works at relatively affordable prices, Contemporary creation has withstood this crisis better than any other creative period. Photography and prints have been particularly successful in this new online environment and in 2021, we have seen the sensational arrival of completely dematerialized artworks, the famous NFTs. Meanwhile, the extraordinary prices obtained for artworks by very young artists have profoundly transformed the entire Art Market landscape.

Here is our new report focusing on the latest evolutions in a Contemporary Art Market that is seeing buying and selling habits transformed, the very notion of “collecting” being fundamentally shaken by NFTs, and Art history itself somewhat fitfully evolving towards greater inclusion and diversity… These changes are as radical as they are unavoidable!

Some key figures to remember:

  • Contemporary Art accounted for 23% of the entire art market in 2020/21, vs. 3% in 2000/01
  • Our Contemporary Art Price Index has climbed 400% since 2000
  • 102,000 Contemporary works sold at auction over 12 months generating a total of $2.7 billion,
  • up 117% compared with the 2019/20 period (which shrank 34% vs. 2018/2019)
  • The works were sold through 770 auction houses in 59 different countries
  • The NFT medium already generated nine 7-digit results, i.e. three times more than the photography medium in the same period.
  • Hong Kong posted exceptional turnover growth of +277% overtaking London
  • Banksy joined the Top 5 best-selling artists on the entire art market, behind Picasso, Basquiat, Warhol and Monet

 

Extract from The Contemporary Art Market report 2021 by Artprice

Click HERE to find out more.

PDF is for free download