Editorial by thierry Ehrmann, Founder and CEO of Artprice.com

“In 2017, Artprice celebrated its 20th anniversary: twenty years during which the global Art Market has been metamorphosed by the emergence and subsequent consolidation of China’s art market, but also by the globalisation of the market’s networks, a diversification of the offer, a massive acceleration in the speed of news diffusion and its ease of access, and the increasing fluidity transactions, amongst other phenomena. Thanks to a series of successful and prestigious external growth moves on different continents, Artprice has built the world’s largest archive of historical Art Market data. This archive allows the company to offer access to the largest Art Market database in the world.

Twenty years after the creation of Artprice, the only possible conclusion is that the art market has grown beyond recognition and that its future growth is inevitable, driven above all by the explosion of the mobile internet.

According to Wan Jie, ‘This report is the fruit of the deepening interaction between Asian and Western Art Markets since 2012. Its structure and content are constantly enhanced to cover both markets as thoroughly as possible.’

No other organization or team is currently capable of processing and interpreting such high quality macro- and micro-economic big data. Big Data analysis is a vital tool for exposing blind spots in the Art Market that historians and Art Journalists tend to miss.

In 2017, the Global Art Fine Art Market firmed in the West and returned China to the position of world leader. China’s leader position ($5.1 billion from 89,400 lots versus the USA’s $5 billion from 82,000 lots) is slight. But it is nevertheless remarkable considering Christie’s sale of Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi in 2017 added $450 million (9% of the USA’s total). Salvator Mundi will be shown in the Abu Dhabi Louvre in the United Arab Emirates.

In view of the state of the global economy and global finances, the Fine Art auction market has demonstrated a level of maturity perfectly commensurate with other alternative investment asset classes. Its total value in 2017 amounted to $14.9 billion (versus $12.45 billion in 2016). In 20 years, the global Art Market’s total auction turnover has grown +456% and today includes turnover from 59 countries compared with 34 countries 20 years ago).

In the second half of 2017, China’s art market grew +20%, the USA’s grew +53%, the UK added +26%, France posted a +48% increase and Germany’s art market grew +18%. The Art Market performed remarkably well.”