Introduction
Contemporary art requires a different approach from Modern or Impressionist art.
History has taught us there is no fixed relationship between the price of artworks at any given moment and their future value: the classic example being the Impressionists whose works were the least valued on the market of their epoch, with Paul Gauguin suffering a number of embarrassing commercial failures before becoming one of the most expensive artists in the world1.
Today, Contemporary art is being acquired by an increasing population of amateur buyers, art professionals and institutions all over the planet. In financial terms, the Contemporary art segment is posting attractive returns for investors and has become a key area for international rivalry with the development of the museum industry. Between 2000 and 2014, more museums opened around the world than during the entire 19th and 20th centuries, and the movement is continuing with more than 700 new museums a year… The museum industry naturally has a strong appetite for impor-tant art works and has thus become an internatio-nal economic fact in the 21st Century and one of the primary drivers of the art market’s spectacular growth.
Since the second half of the 20th century, the Art Market has completely changed from a highly opaque market to a transparent and efficient market. Artprice contributes to this metamorphosis by creating tools that enable us to apprehend the market’s economic reality around the globe. Thus, once a closed and secretive universe reserved for a select group of market professionals, the art market is today a transparent environment open to all types of art lovers and aficionados.
Despite a slight contraction in global turnover in 2014/2015 and a high level of volatility1, the global Contemporary art price index has risen +30% over the past decade, posting an interesting long-term return on investment. In 15 years, auction turnover in the Contemporary art segment has risen by a staggering +1,800%.
1 The Contemporary art price index is down -20% since the peak in 2008 and -16 % versus July 2014.
Globalisation – driven by constant developments in marketing and Internet sales – coupled with the fi nancialisation of the market and the industrialisation of the museum sector not to mention the strategic Soft Power of art at the global level, is inexorably pushing up art prices. However, not everyone is enjoying the same rate of infl ation; in fact only a relatively small group of artists are underpinning auction sale headlines, while the vast majority remain aff ordable – some perhaps destined to make tomorrow’s headlines.
As the strong growth of the Contemporary art market is not benefi ting all artists in the same way, Artprice has decided to include a section in this report analysing the auction performances of certain artists in the light of their careers and, more specifically, the links between aspects of their professional development and their auction success. This analysis elicited a broader question: to what extent is the auction market in phase with current cultural news and developments, and, which market players have the most influence in the global Contemporary art ecosystem?
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