Foreword by thierry Ehrmann, CEO of Artmarket.com and Founder of Artprice

thierry Ehrmann, CEO of Artmarket.com and Founder of Artprice

 

Our 2023 Art Market Report is much more reassuring than the results of the major prestigious sessions alone suggest: the number of auction transactions reached a new absolute record and the unsold rate of lots has remained stable. The art auction market is therefore running at full speed with only the ultra high-end segment slowing down. The number of transactions over $10 million actually fell by 25%, but the total number of lots sold worldwide increased by +5%.

With no fabulous results hammered for works in major collections like the Paul G. Allen Collection in 2022, the year 2023 was much less illustrious at the high-end, and 19th Century Art was the segment that contracted the most. In the absence of major works, Claude Monet remained the 6th top-selling artist in the world (at auction) in 2023, although his auction total dropped from $540 million in 2022 to $197 million in 2023. It is clear that the global geopolitical context has substantially contributed to a slowdown in sales of historical masterpieces.

However, this report highlights many remarkable performances: the very first auction result above $100 million in London, the rapid development of auctions in India as well as the stabilization of NFT sales. Generative Art experienced sensational success in 2023, with seven-digit results for NFTs by Dimitry Cherniak and Tyler Hobbs. Artprice sees this medium as a domain with major potential. We are also very proud to collaborate with the digital artist 1DONTKNOWS by presenting his NFT Chaos under the pure light on the front cover of this report.

Our 2023 Art Market Report also highlights the performances of women artists. Japanese visual artist Yayoi Kusama has for the second consecutive year joined the 10 top-selling artists in the world (all creative periods combined) behind René Magritte and above Gustav Klimt! New auction records were also recorded for Joan Mitchell, Louise Bourgeois, Agnes Martin and Barbara Hepworth. They attest to the new appreciation collectors now have of these major artists of the 20th Century. Artprice observed the growth in the recognition of female artists is further amplified by their diverse origins, with the Ethiopian-American Julie Mehretu (b. 1970) and the Nigerian-English Jadé Fadojutimi (1993) among the brightest stars on the global art market in 2023.

Artprice by Artmarket.com – world leader in art market information – continues its collaboration for the fifteenth consecutive year with the Chinese company Artron, whose ARAA service provides essential information on the Chinese art market. Together we publish the world’s most comprehensive annual report on the art market. Our partnership honors the diplomatic relations established sixty years ago between China and France, which, in 2024 (year of the dragon in China) has a new lease of life with the announcement by the former French Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs, Catherine Colonna, and her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, of the “Franco-Chinese Year of Cultural Tourism” in 2024.

The global coverage of art auction sales made possible by the association of Artprice and Artron allows a comprehensive view of the structural evolution and trends in the global art market. This report is therefore unique and we are proud to present it to you in three languages: French, Mandarin and English.