L'attualità del mercato dell'arte di Pablo PICASSO (1881-1973)

May auction sales: the ascent continues… [26/04/2010]

The recovery in art prices is accelerating. At least, that is judging by the ambitious estimates announced by the major auction houses for their forthcoming Impressionist and Modern Art sales on 4 and 5 May 2010.

Ahead of the May sales [06/04/2010]

Ahead of the major Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art sales in May, collectors have been making their annual pilgrimages to art fairs around the world. During March and April, those interested in Contemporary art have been particularly attracted to the Armory Show, Art Paris, Art Tokyo, Art Brussels, Cige, etc.

The 2009 podium: Picasso, Warhol, Qi [23/02/2010]

As the art market convalesced in 2009, the world’s top auction performers generated much smaller totals than in previous years. Regulars in the Top 10 ranking like Pablo Picasso, Andy Warhol, Alberto Giacometti, Edgar Degas or Claude Monet saw their annual revenues contract by 55% – 77% compared with 2008.

A wave of optimism at the London sales [08/02/2010]

Christie’s and Sotheby’s have won their gamble. The Impressionist & Modern Art sales on 2 and 3 February in London generated one global all-segment record and 29 results above £1m out of 87 lots offered. Christie’s managed to sell 87.5% of its lots for £61m (est. £48m-69m) plus the £8.5m from its special session devoted to surrealist art.

Impressionist and Modern sales in London – unabashed confidence! [25/01/2010]

Since the peak in January 2008, the price index of Impressionist art has contracted sharply: down 39.3%. But for Christie’s and Sotheby’s – judging by the high estimates in the catalogues for their upcoming London sales – the price deflation is now over.

The print market: some useful tips [04/01/2010]

Prints are an important element of the art market representing between 10 and 17% of global auction transactions and between 1.6 and 3.6% of global fine art auction revenue over the last decade.

New York’s Impressionist & Modern sales produce very mixed results [09/11/2009]

The two days of Impressionist & Modern auctions in New York saw the art market in full roller-coaster mode: after a very uninspiring evening at Christie’s that generated just $56.8m on 3 November 2009 (vs. $116.9m on 6 November 2008), Sotheby’s posted $102m more than its rival ($158.6m vs. $196.8m on 3 November 2008) the following day and several new records.

No surprise in London [29/06/2009]

The results of the Impressionist & Modern sales in London last week were without surprise (except for the withdrawal of Camille PISSARRO’s, Le Quai Malaquais) and made the era of 8-figure auction results an even more distant memory. Both auction houses generated eight sales above the $1m line. The bought-in rate was not identical however: 15% at Sotheby’s (out of 27 lots presented) and 32% at Christie’s (out of 45 lots offered).

London sales: second round [22/06/2009]

On 23 June, Christie’s will be offering 45 Impressionist & Modern works in London and the following day Sotheby’s will present just 27 pieces. The catalogues feature works by Picasso, Claude Monet and Giacometti. On 25 and 30 June, the two auctioneers will open their Contemporary Art sales

Affordable art: a diversified market [18/05/2009]

For 10 years now a special “roaming” art fair has been dedicated to affordable art contributing to dispelling the notion that art is elitist and beyond the budgets of the masses.From 4 to 7 June 2009, the Affordable Art Fair is returning to Paris, at the Espace Champerret, having already visited London, Sydney, Amsterdam, New York and Brussels. Young collectors and informed non-professionals seeking new talents can discover more than 600 artists at prices ranging from 100 to 5,000 euros.

New York penalised by the crisis [11/05/2009]

Since January 2008, prices in the Impressionist & Modern Art segment have posted a cumulative fall of roughly 30% and they contracted no less than 10% in the first quarter of 2009 alone. So, inevitably, the first day of the Impressionist & Modern Art sales in New York was awaited as a test of the top-end of the market.

Christie’s and Sotheby’s prepare their prestige May sales in New York [04/05/2009]

The market is holding its breath ahead of the critical May sales in New York that will inevitably gauge the health of the Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary segments.As expected, the price tags are substantially lower than a year earlier in all three segments

Artprice’s TOP 10 ranking: the art market heavyweights in 2008 [15/03/2009]

Every year Artprice publishes its ranking of artists based on auction revenue. At the end of 2007 the figures were remarkable: the market’s Top 10 had generated a combined total of $1.8bn, up no less than 50% on the previous year’s total. In 2008 the total was $100m lower than for 2007 at $1.7bn, a figure representing 20% of the total global art auction market on 1.5% of its transactions.

Sale of the Bergé – YSL collection: Paris moves up the global art market ladder [01/03/2009]

The Bergé -YSL sale was a historical sale in more than one sense: the €373.5m total for the three-day auction is the world record for a private collection and the European record for an art sale of any sort.

Pierre Bergé sale – the big event of the year [08/02/2009]

For at least six months, the sale of the Pierre Bergé and Yves Saint Laurent collection has been the focus of much media attention, described as the “sale of the century”. At a time when The Art Market Confidence Index (AMCI) is firmly in the red, the means allocated to the sale of some 691 lots are commensurate with the works being presented: exceptional.

The TOP 10 artists [13/03/2008]

Every year Artprice compiles a ranking of artists based on the total revenue generated by public sales of each artist’s work, with Pablo Picasso invariably taking the number one position on the market podium. Not so in 2007: after nearly 10 years, the champion of modern art has been dethroned by the guru of Pop art, Andy Warhol. Second in 2006, Warhol became the global market leader in 2007.More than just one name replacing another, this ‘event’ reflects a veritable sea-change in the auction world. While in the 1990s the very pinnacle of the art market belonged to the impressionists, particularly Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet, and then, after 2000, to the moderns with Pablo Picasso and Gustave Klimt, today, and possibly for some time to come, the market has hoisted contemporary art to the summit of the pyramid.

Modern sculpture at a high [06/12/2007]

In the modern period, prices for sculpture have been rising faster than those of painting, with the price index for sculpture reaching a new high in 2007, growth of 100% in 15 years!

The New York sales at new highs [28/10/2007]

On 6 and 7 November the two key sales of the auction season will take place in New York. Sotheby’s and Christie’s have assembled for the occasion a selection of important works by Paul Gauguin, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, Cézanne and even Franz Marc. To date, pre-sale estimates from the two auction houses have never been so high.

Great expectations for New York’s May auctions [02/05/2007]

On 8 November last year, Christie’s New York managed to far outstrip its principal competitor Sotheby’s with a record sale that generated USD 491 million from 78 lots!This year Sotheby’s is planning a spectacular response with its New York sales of ‘Impressionist and Modern Art’ and ‘Contemporary Art’ that it estimates will generate between 416 and 561 millions dollars.

Diego Rivera – “I never believed in God, but I believe in Picasso” [22/03/2007]

Diego RIVERA was a friend of many of the great modern artists, not only Pablo PICASSO but also Amedeo MODIGLIANI, who painted his portrait, Piet MONDRIAAN and André BRETON. In 1913, Rivera experimented with analytical cubism before developing a mature style with simplified forms and bright colours, christened “naif”. His career took off in his home country of Mexico with the painting of mural frescos whose overt political commitment had a massive impact in the spirit of the times.

Top 10 artists [13/03/2007]

Each artist makes their own, large or small, contribution to the total market. And ranking them by auction turnover gives a good indication of market conditions, preferences and trends. Every year Artprice ranks artists by this criterion.

French art market returns to form in 2006 [04/02/2007]

Having missed out on the art market’s growth in 2002-2004, France is finally booming again. Turnover rose by 42% in 2006 to EUR 330 million, while volume sales advanced by 14%. Prices were up by 9% over twelve months though this is still 40% below their 1990 level.

Sale of the year… [02/11/2006]

The impressionist and modern art sales are the centrepiece of the New York auction season. As ever, Sotheby’s and Christie’s catalogues include some exceptional pieces.

Cubist sculpture [28/08/2006]

As a Fine Art segment, the price index for Cubist sculpture contracted in 2005, but seems to be growing again this year.

PICASSO ENGRAVINGS – An abundant, but complex market [21/05/2006]

The most famous 20th century painter was also a very gifted sculptor, assembler, pioneer into unknown artistic territories… and engraver. Between 1899 and 1973, Picasso produced over 2000 engravings. His insatiable curiosity and his appetite for challenges underpinned a prolific and varied output covering a whole range of different engraving techniques, including techniques invented by himself.Engravings therefore make up a very significant element of Picasso’s oeuvre, but should not be acquired without discernment.

Picasso portrait of Dora Maar becomes the world’s second most expensive painting [04/05/2006]

Just two years after setting the world auction record for his Garçon à la Pipe (sold for USD 93 million on 5 May 2004), Pablo Picasso came close to repeating the feat when a 1941 portrait of his muse, Dora Maar, was knocked down for USD 85 million at Sotheby’s prestigious Impressionist & Modern Art evening sale.

Explosion of prices in New York [26/04/2006]

Art prices continued to climb in the first quarter of 2006. In the middle of the spring/summer auction season and a few days ahead of the prestigious “Impressionist & Modern Art Evening Sale” in New York, the Artprice Global Index shows that prices rose a further 16% over just four months! Since the beginning of the year, 117 lots have already exceeded the million dollar mark, compared with only 66 over the same period in 2005.

A boom in the drawings market [20/03/2006]

For the past 15 years, collectors and curators of drawings have met at the Salon du Dessin during the last week of March. The salon that is to be held at the Palais de la Bourse in Paris will bring together some 30 galleries that will exhibit almost 1,000 drawings from all periods.

Auction data in 2005 showed that the drawings segment represented almost 24.4% of total Fine Art transactions and 12.7% of turnover (vs. 11.6% in 2004).

TOP 10 ARTISTS [05/02/2006]

The Top 10 artists grossed USD 576 million in 2005, compared to USD 393 million in 2003, a figure that represents 13.6% of the total art auction market. Unusually, a contemporary artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and an old master, Canaletto, were among the top sellers. The top three names however are unchanged…

Impressionist and Modern Art sales generate USD 291 million [03/11/2005]

The Impressionist and Modern Art sales held on 1 and 2 November by Christie’s and Sotheby’s respectively were a huge success. The two auction houses generated a total of USD 291 million from the sale of 110 of the 123 lots on offer.