Despite a record number of transactions conducted mainly online, global art auction sales fell to $14.9 billion in 2023 – a 14% drop according to a report published by Artprice, a database that monitors the sale of art online.
Artprice founder Thierry Ehrmann noted that while fine art sales (which includes painting, sculpture, drawing, photography, prints, videos, installations, tapestries, and NFTs) decreased, auction completions hit a new record (763,000), a 5% rise. There was a surge in sales under $1,000 (423,000) and a 285% increase in online sales.
The results highlight that the art market has shifted online, driven by younger buyers averaging 41 years old. Despite some auction houses resisting digitalisation, in-person auction sales are diminishing.
Moving markets
Sales have declined significantly in the West, in particular high-value sales of over $50 million have plunged. In Asia however the market has grown.
The US remains the market leader with sales worth $5.2 billion, despite a drop in the sale of large private collections which caused sales to fall by 28%. By contrast, China returned to its pre-Covid performance with revenues of $4.9 billion (+4%), with sales in Hong Kong especially marked.
Other Asian countries also saw major fluctuations: Japan lost 22% in sales revenue and South Korea's market contracted by 49%. Meanwhile India experienced a record high with $152 million (+76%), largely driven by significant 20th-century Indian artists.
After the US and China, the UK had the third-largest sales revenue, totalling $1.8 billion. This was a 15% drop from 2022, part of an ongoing decline observed since Brexit. France remains in fourth place, generating $875 million (-11%) with a significant increase in the number of works selling for over a million (+80% compared to 2011-2014).
Germany ($372 million), Italy ($197 million), Switzerland ($125 million) registered “stable” results, followed by Belgium ($69 million) and Spain ($27 million), which respectively grew by 21% and 31%.
Modern art (artists born 1860-1919) leads with 40% of total revenues, followed by post-war art (1920-1944) with 25%, contemporary art (post-1945) with 17%, ancient art (pre-1759) with 9% and 19th-century art (1760-1859) with 8%.
The BRAFA fine art show is Belgium's leading art fair, January 2023. Credit: Belga / Michael Adair
