Introductions
S otheby’s mission is to expand access to, and ownership of, artworks and luxury objects by operating the world’s most trusted marketplace. One way we realise our mission is by providing objective data and deep insight about the fine art market particularly at its highest levels. We know that navigating the art market can be daunting, even for experienced collectors, but the rewards of owning a masterpiece by one of the world’s most sought-after artists can be extraordinary – both financially and personally.
This report picks up where the first Sotheby’s Insight Report left off. That report, which encompassed 2018–22, was the first to focus on the high end of the market – works of art that sell for $1m or more. These represent a small fraction of lots at auction but make up the majority of overall market value, and have a tremendous impact on the market at lower levels. Over this five-year period, marked by challenging global events including the Covid-19 pandemic, the war in Ukraine and Brexit, the $1m+ market proved to be especially resilient, rising to new heights in 2021 and 2022. This report includes an art market update for the first half of this year from Anders Petterson, the founder of ArtTactic, who once again partnered with Sotheby’s. During a time of financial discomfort caused by persistent inflation and high interest rates, the data reveals a market that is somewhat more cautious, particularly on the supply side, but still fundamentally strong.
At the heart of this report is a special section devoted to the 50 artists who power the $1m+ market. The data includes publicly available information combined with an unprecedented amount of proprietary data from Sotheby’s about private sales and bidder demographics. We have structured each page with clear, easy-to-understand infographics that lay out the key measures of an individual artist’s market, including total market value and supply levels over five-and-a-half years, buyer confidence, momentum, bidders by region and by age, comparable activity in the private sales market and listings of the top 10 works sold at all three major auction houses. Our hope is that collectors who are currently participating in the $1m+ market, or are contemplating entering it, will find this section to be an invaluable guide to the world’s most coveted artists.
Sotheby’s
W e are delighted to launch the second report in the Peak Performance series in partnership with Sotheby’s. In this new report, we take a deep dive into the $1m+ fine art market and in particular the artists who power it. This edition presents a detailed market analysis of the top 50 artists who lead the market, both in terms of value and frequency at auction.
To be included, at least 25 artworks by each artist must have sold at auction for more than $1m between 2018–22. We are also pleased to introduce an artist Power Ranking in this report: a new metric that captures annual trends at auction by evaluating five distinct factors: market size, liquidity, price point, buyer confidence and momentum.
The analysis is based on auction data from Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips, gathered and evaluated by ArtTactic, and covers four main fine art collecting segments: Contemporary (including Post-War), Impressionist and Modern, Old Masters and Chinese works of art. It also includes unique analysis on bidder trends and demographics as well as private sales based on Sotheby’s proprietary data.
We believe that this combination of public and private art market data will provide our readers with new insights and a more holistic view of the $1m+ market and the artists within it. We hope this will contribute to more awareness and understanding of the underlying dynamics of this important market.
Anders Petterson, ArtTactic
Sotheby’s Insight Roundtable
Sotheby’s Insight Roundtable
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Bidder analysis
Bidder analysis
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The top 50 artists
The top 50 artists
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Rankings: The Artists Who Power The $1 Million+ Market
Rankings: The Artists Who Power The $1 Million+ Market
