The Art Market in 2022

[14/03/2023]

The 2022 Global Art Market Report by Artprice by Artmarket.com & ARAA (Artron Research Academy of Arts)

This year, which marks its 25th anniversary the equivalent of a century on the Internet Artprice is particularly proud to publish the Global Art Market Report with its long-standing partner, Artron.

In 2022, the art market encountered a number of major global headwinds with the persistent effects of the pandemic in certain regions of the world, Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, a sharp increase in energy prices, the return of inflation and a deepening awareness of the impacts of climate change, a subject that has had a substantial impact on art market professionals.

In this particularly tense global environment, the auction market for artworks seems to be showing resilience and, even, unprecedented vitality. Despite a 19% fall in the S&P 500 in 2022, more than a million artworks were offered in fine art auction sales worldwide during the year, an absolute record in art auction history. The year was clearly marked by the six works that each fetched over $100 million at Christie’s, setting a historic new record for the auction house and ensuring New York’s position as by far the strongest capital of the ultra high-end market. But, we have also seen the emergence of new market places all over the globe, from Seoul to Cape Town, via Sydney, Dallas and Tokyo.

The art market increasingly reflects the world we live in: a world evermore aware of the value of beauty and rarity, of things that may soon be gone forever and that we must constantly reinvent by creating new forms to enrich our souls.Thierry Ehrmann, President and Founder of Artmarket.com and its Artprice department

Through this 2022 Global Art Market Report – focusing exclusively on the art market’s auction sphere – Artprice and its Chinese partner, ARAA, identify the year’s key results and provide a clear and transparent analysis of the art auction market right across the globe. We compare the performances of different countries and auction houses and look at the evolution of prices of works by Art History’s key historical figures and its emerging stars. We also highlight the evermore inclusive nature of the art market thanks to a belated but nevertheless growing recognition of women artists and a better representation of artists from all walks of life and all movements.

Artprice is very glad to share with you all the transformations of an exciting global art market and very proud to offer – via its relationship with Artron – a truly exhaustive panorama of sales of Fine Art and NFT auctions around the world to everyone, which includes all market professionals, informed collectors, art enthusiasts and the simply curious.

Happy reading!

Available for free, in three languages, online as well as in PDF version: EnglishFrenchChinese

Table of contents

General synopsis: a guaranteed success

Key figures for 2022

Asia… and the rest of the world

Artistic mediums and their relative weights

 

Extraordinary collections

Christie’s owes 41% of its turnover total to three collections

Cézanne’s Montagne Sainte-Victoire fetches $100 million

Sotheby’s also got close to a billion-dollar total

 

From the most expensive to the most affordable, breakdown per price segment

$100 million: a new scale of value?

Half of all artworks sold at auction fetched under $800

 

Comparative strengths: countries and auction houses

The principal marketplaces

China’s art market loses two billion

The USA accounts for 44% of the global market

The UK recovers its balance

France maintains strong position

Germany posts its best-ever year

 

Notable developments in Asia

China Hong Kong, an eldorado for the big three

Christie’s restarts in Shanghai

A historic year in Japan

Seoul proves its worth

 

Auction house competition

Christie’s hammers the lion’s share

Sotheby’s shifting its focus towards Asia

Phillips, a strong competitor on 20th century Art

Bonhams sets out to conquer Europe

Artcurial, the leading French auction house

 

Artists and works that marked the year

The pillars of the Western market

Andy Warhol – the market’s big leader

Claude Monet – best-ever annual total

Pablo Picasso – a typical year with no particular surprises

 

Notable auction records in 2022

Artist records set during the Paul Allen sale

Michelangelo, a drawing from his early twenties

Jean Siméon Chardin and his famous Basket of Wild Strawberries

Franz Marc joins the global Top 50 by annual action turnover

René Magritte, an iconic painting fetches over $79 million

Francis Picabia crosses $10 million for the first time

Piet Mondrian: new record at $51 million

Edgar Degas’ La petite danseuse fetches over $41 million

Emanuel Leutze multiplies his auction record by ten

Andy Warhol becomes the second most expensive artist in the world

Ernie Barnes multiplies estimate by 75

Lucian Freud’s auction record adds $30 million

Georg Baselitz crosses $10 million threshold for the first time

Pablo Picasso: new record for a sculpture

Man Ray, historic sale of an iconic photograph

Alighiero Boetti: new records for his tapestries

 

Trends in Contemporary Art

Galloping demand

Women artists attracting greater attention

The NFT market matures with modesty