The Contemporary Art Auction Market: Key Figures July 2014 – June 2015
$1.76 billion in Contemporary art auction turnover, down 12% versus the previous 12-month period.
+1,800% over 15 years. For the 2000/2001 period, the turnover total was $93 million. In 2006/2007 it reached $365 million.
13% of the global art market, Contemporary art’s share of the global Fine Art auction market today.
91% generated by the three majors powers. In global Contemporary art auction turnover shares: the USA with 37%, China with 30.9% and the UK with 23.3%. The rest of the world accounts for a very small portion.
$410 million generated in the UK, a sharp increase (+74.7%) that confirms London’s growing strength. The UK is now only $130 million behind China compared with a gap of $630 million the previous year.
2% – France’s share in global turnover. Ranked fourth in the world… but a long way behind the three leaders.
-36.9% in China. Shedding more than a third of its Contemporary art turnover versus the previous period, China lost its leader position to the United States.
| Rank | City | Auction revenue | Sold lots | Unsold rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | new york | $631,286,370 | 3,379 | 29.3% |
| 2 | London | $407,277,143 | 3,642 | 33.6% |
| 3 | beijing | $228,127,283 | 5,105 | 29.9% |
| 4 | hong kong | $146,669,088 | 1,591 | 33.1% |
| 5 | shanghai | $52,228,133 | 1,196 | 34.4% |
| 6 | nanjing | $33,180,567 | 1,784 | 26.3% |
| 7 | paris | $31,047,445 | 3,954 | 52.1% |
| 8 | Guangzhou | $27,219,573 | 1,221 | 30.0% |
| 9 | hangzhou | $17,129,760 | 235 | 11.7% |
| 10 | Taipei | $13,482,204 | 364 | 31.6% |
55,400 contemporary artworks sold. In 2014/2015, the Chinese market remained the most active, accounting for more than a quarter of the global number of Contemporary art lots sold.
24,200 paintings sold, generating over $1 billion, i.e. 61.2% of the global Contemporary art turnover. Paintings also generated 73% of the auction results above the million-dollar line.
15,400 drawings sold. Once the poor cousin of painting, nowadays drawing has its own autonomous market, a market that was consecrated by the sale of Edvard Munch’s Scream in 20121. Drawing accounts for 17.4% of Contemporary art turnover.
64% of lots sold for less than $5,000, affordable works represent the main corpus of the Contemporary art market. Only 8% of Contemporary lots fetch over $50,000.
205 results above the million-dollar line, that is just 0.37% of Contemporary lots sold in the world. This proportion was down 15% versus the previous 12-month period.
14 results above the ten million-dollar line. There were 18 during the previous 12-month period.
2,785 new auction records, 6% of the Contemporary artists sold at auction this year improved their auction records.
$37.1 million – the best result of the year, for Jean-Michel Basquiat’s The field next to the other road (1981) at Christie’s on 13 May 2015. This result did not beat his all-time record.
| auctionned lots percentage | for a price inferior to |
|---|---|
| 100% | $33,000,000 |
| 95% | $78,816 |
| 90% | $37,445 |
| 80% | $15,005 |
| 70% | $7,393 |
| 60% | $3,916 |
| 50% | $2,230 |
| 40% | $1,244 |
| 30% | $689 |
| 20% | $389 |
| 10% | $182 |
$145 million invested in Basquiat. In 2014/2015, the American painter Jean-Michel Basquiat alone accounted for 7% of global auction turnover from Contemporary art compared with more than 15% in the previous 12-month period. Basquiat, who created more than 800 paintings and more than 1,500 drawings, represents a major fi nancial stake for the ultra-high end of the Contemporary art market.
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