Artprice’s 2024 Global Art Market Report is available (and it’s free!)

Discover the major developments in the art market as well as the most successful artists and trends on the auction market.

2024 was a difficult year for the art market with a short supply of major works and some quite severe price adjustments, but it also revealed promising foundations for the future and better purchasing opportunities at auction. Discover the latest developments in the art auction market in Artprice’s 30th Global Art Market Report.

Designed as a reference tool, it offers professionals, seasoned collectors and curious enthusiasts a clear reading of the trends that are shaping auctions, the strengths and weaknesses of the market, changes that are currently underway, and its future prospects.

Access our 2024 Global Art Market Report

The entire 2024 Global Art Market Report is available free of charge in PDF, in French, English and Chinese. Here is an overview.

Sections

Global art auction turnover shrinks: understanding its one third drop
The global art auction sphere continues to expand
Women and Surrealist artists: fads or lasting progressions?

Global art auction turnover shrinks: understanding its one third drop.

The year 2024 was not easy. A complex and turbulent geopolitical and economic context weighed on the art market, leading to a reduction in activity in the premium segments in New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Beijing.

So what exactly happened? In an unstable context, the wealthiest buyers reduced their investments, while sellers preferred to procrastinate, making the supply of exceptional works scarce. Result: the ultra-premium segment, the traditional driver of the art auction market, posted a clear slowdown, accentuating the contraction of global art auction turnover that started in 2023.

Global art auction turnover was down a third, but the growth of lower price segments allowed a historical new record volume of transactions, with more than 804,500 lots sold during the year.

“This 30th Artprice Global Art Market Report analyses the impact of the centenary anniversary of Surrealism, pursues our long-term study of the revaluation of women artists and highlights the market places that are developing in Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, India, as well as on the Internet, essential for reaching collectors around the world. These developments allow us to appreciate how the art market is proving to be more dynamic and diverse than ever, although the high-end segment has slowed considerably.”

thierry Ehrmann, CEO and founder of Artprice.com by Artmarket

Beyond the cyclical fluctuations in turnover, other indicators reveal the dynamics and prospects of the global art market. These include auction sold-through rates, the structure and distribution of auction results and sales, and various other key indicators that analyse buyer behavior and ongoing transformations, from one country to another, from one price segment to another, or even from one period of creation to another.

Discover the art market’s key indicators:
Chapter1. Dissecting the slowdown: what’s behind it?

The global art auction sphere continues to expand

Although global art auction turnover has just experienced a significant drop, reaching its lowest level since 2009, there is no evidence that the growth of art auction sales is slowing. Indeed, quite the reverse is true since we have seen a new historical record in the volume of transactions, supported by a strong influx of affordable works and by the growing success of online sales, where each work offered for sale can reach bidders on a global scale.

Diversification is now the key phenomenon affecting the global art market, with an ever richer and more varied offer. Every year, several thousand artists, from all eras and all backgrounds, enter the auction market for the first time, breathing precious new air into the market.

In 2024, the number of artists to bid on was over 187,000, marking an increase of 6% versus 2023.

This expansion illustrates the continued evolution of the market, and its expansion is not limited to the arrival of new Contemporary artists. In reality, the latter represented only a quarter of new entries onto the auction in 2024. Paradoxically, it has been Modern and even Old Master artists who remained the main motors of the dynamics of auction sales, infusing the market with an energy that transcends the boundaries of time.

A new cartography

While the art auction market is opening to a growing number of artists, its expansion is also geographical, with nearly 700 cities and a thousand auction houses now in operation across the world.

On this vast chessboard, the United States stands out as the primary marketplace, both in sales volume and in value generated. New York alone accounts for a third of global art auction turnover. But what about other market strongholds? Paris, London, Seoul, Hong Kong, Tokyo and even Berne all have their own dynamics and distinctive strengths. What are their strengths and how do they stand out in this global competition?

Answer: Chapter 3:
Seoul, Bern, Riyadh… Is the geography of the art market changing?

Women and Surrealist artists: fads or lasting progressions?

The centenary of André Breton’s Surrealist Manifesto made 2024 an emblematic year for Surrealism as a whole, celebrated in apotheosis by an exceptional exhibition at the Pompidou Center in Paris. At the heart of this event, the original manuscript of the Manifesto, accompanied by nearly 500 works covering all the artistic disciplines explored by the artists of the movement.

For the art market, the year’s highlight was undoubtedly the appearance at auction of a work by Rene Magritte, hailed by Christie’s as the “most important Surrealist work ever offered at auction” and selling for more than $121 million. Beyond this exceptional piece, the energy of the centenary breathed a new dynamic into the entire Surrealist market, making it one of the year’s safe havens.

Key market data clearly show that the enthusiasm stretches far beyond Magritte’s spectacular auction results. Indeed, many Surrealist artists, particularly women who have long remained in the shadows, are beginning to emerge more assertively at auction.

Are these sudden revaluations the result of a one-off phenomenon, fueled by the centenary of Surrealism, or are they part of a deeper and lasting trend, supported by indicators suggesting the growth of demand for works by women artists right across the board?

Answer: Chapter 4:
Highlights of the year: Surrealists and female artists

Our 30th Global Art Market Report, available for free download, provides a detailed analysis of the trends shaping global auctions. It gives you the keys to understanding the structure of the art market through an analysis of more than 804,500 results in 2024, enriched with concrete examples and key rankings, including our 500 top-selling artists in the world and the 100 most notable art auction results of the year.

Artprice’s 2024 Global Art Market Report is available for free – World Art Auction turnover year 2024 TOP 10 –