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Contributor: PR Newswire Europe
Saturday, February 22 2020 - 00:49
AsiaNet
Artprice by Artmarket's 2019 Annual Art Market Report Shows Continued Growth With an All-time Record Number of Transactions Based on Global Confidence
PARIS, Feb. 21, 2020, /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/--

Artprice by Artmarket's 2019 Annual Art Market Report shows continued growth 
with a all-time record number of transactions based on global confidence in the 
market, and the French market was particularly strong in 2019.

Fruit of the alliance between Artprice by Artmarket.com, world leader in Art 
Market information (founded and directed by thierry Ehrmann), and Artron, its 
powerful Chinese institutional partner (directed by Wan Jie), our 22nd Annual 
Art Market Report allows a global view of public Fine Art sales of paintings, 
sculptures, drawings, photography, prints and installations from 1 January 2019 
to 31 December 2019.

thierry Ehrmann: "Today's Art Market is exceptionally mature, capable of 
withstanding political instabilities, as both London and Hong Kong's results 
have shown. China, which hardly existed on the global Art Market in 2000, now 
generates almost a third of its total value."

22nd Annual Report by Artprice by Artmarket

This report contains the famous Artprice ranking of the Top 500 best-selling 
artists on the global fine art auction market and the Top 100 auction results. 
It also contains an analysis of the global Art Market from a geographical 
perspective (by country and by major city), a breakdown by historical periods 
and by artistic media, a selection of crucial Artprice market indices and 8 key 
chapters providing an uncompromising analysis of today's global Art Market. No 
other entity is currently capable of generating such high quality macro- and 
micro-economic metadata based on proprietary Big Data and AI algorithms. 

This 22nd Annual Report on the Global Art Market is distributed worldwide 
exclusively by Artprice by ArtMarket and Cision, which together have created 
the first international press agency dedicated to Art Market information: 
Artpress agency(R), which belongs to Artmarket.com, is the global leader in art 
market information.

Read this 22nd Global Annual Art Market Report for free:
https://www.artprice.com/artprice-reports/the-art-market-in-2019

Confident and stable growth, with a record number of transactions worldwide

The Art market has continued to deepen with a record 550,000 fine art lots sold 
via auctions around the world in 2019, generating a total of $13.3 billion. 
This was the highest annual number of lots sold since 1945… creating the 
deepest and broadest public art market ever recorded. 

Driven by a healthy combination of investment logic, speculative buying, 
passion collecting and insatiable demand for major signatures from the world's 
new museums, the global Art Market posted a buoyant level of activity in 2019 
with a record number of 550,000 transactions worldwide. 

The drivers of this growth are ease of access to Art Market information, 
electronic sales (99% of the market's participants are connected to the 
Internet) - the financialization of the market, a growing population of 
ever-younger art consumers (from 500,000 after WWII to 120 million in 2019) and 
the extension of the market to the entire Asia/Pacific area, plus India, South 
Africa, the Middle East and South America.

In terms of turnover, the global Art Market posted a contraction of -14% mainly 
due to a dearth of masterpieces above the $50 million threshold; however, the 
unsold rate remained perfectly stable at 38%, as did the overall art price 
index, which only changed +0.48%. 

Remember the "unsold rate" has been closely watched for 120 years as it quickly 
indicates when a market is moving into speculative mode (below 20%) or into a 
meltdown of confidence mode (over 60%). According to the famous Art Market 
sociologist Raymonde Moulin, the current rate of 38% is close to the "ideal" 
unsold rate. 

The strength of the Art Market is related to its unparalleled level of 
selectivity, very much reflecting Artprice's dictum "Buy the right work, from 
the right period, with a good story, by the right artist, at the right time." 

Over 20 years, the Art Market has experienced very substantial growth

An efficient, liquid and transparent Art Market that resembles financial 
markets.
In a world where many countries are posting quarterly economic growth rates 
well below 1%, the Art Market has once again confirmed its efficiency, 
liquidity and transparency... just like a financial market. The key growth 
figure bear witness to this evolution: 

- the Art Market's total auction turnover has grown fourfold since 2000, from 
$3.2 billion to $13.3 billion in 2019

- the number of lots sold has doubled over the same period from 272,000 lots 
sold in 2000 to 550,000 sold in 2019.

Our Artprice100(R) (a global index covering all historical periods of creation 
combined: i.e. Old Masters, the Modern period and the Post-War/Contemporary 
periods) showed a +396% increase in value between 1 January 2000 and 31 
December 2019.

While the Central Banks – and notably the ECB – are maintaining close to zero 
or even negative base interest rates, the Art Market is posting frankly 
insolent health and our Artprice100(R) virtual index (covering all historical 
periods of creation combined) is currently posting a +396% increase since 2000. 

The Internet (Microsoft estimates over 6.3 billion people are connected 
worldwide) has now become the principal and definitive forum for auction 
operators worldwide and they are using it to consolidate their market shares on 
all continents. Of the world's 6,300 auction houses, 99% are today present on 
the Internet (versus just 3% in 2005).

France joins the quartet of major Art Market powers 

France posted the best performance in its auction history, raising its auction 
turnover +18%. With a total of $830 million in 2019, it substantially upgraded 
its fourth place in the ranking of major Art Market powers. However, it still 
has a long way to catch up with the 3rd-placed UK, which posted an annual 
auction turnover total on fine art 2.5 times higher. 

thierry Ehrmann: "If Eric Turquin's Caravaggio had sold at auction, as planned, 
and not privately two days before its scheduled auction in Toulouse, France's 
annual turnover total would have been close to $1 billion in 2019."

Nevertheless, France's fine art auction strength is essentially its core 
high-volume backbone. With 82,000 fine art lots sold in 2019, France 
represented the second largest market in the world, behind the United States 
(99,000 lots sold), but ahead of the UK (70,000) and China (66,000).

France can today congratulate itself on having the strongest auction house in 
Europe: Artcurial, which now ranks 11th in the world by annual turnover. 

General overview of 2019

The global Art Market generated $13.32 billion, down -14% mainly due to a drop 
in the number of ultra-high value masterpieces offered (worth > $50 million)
The number of lots sold worldwide reached a new historical high of 550,000 
The average lot price in 2019 reached $24,300
The median lot price was $940
Approximately 90% of all lots sold fetched less than $17,000
The unsold rate remained stable at 38% (slightly more than a third)
The overall price index remained stable at +0.48%
The Contemporary art price index was up +4.44%

Financial performances

Repeat sales* show an average annual return varying between +5.5% and +8.2% 
since 2000

Works purchased between $200,000 and $1 million generate the strongest annual 
return: +8.2% since 2000

* The same work bought at auction and sold at auction in 2019

Soft Power

The United States ($4.6 billion) outperformed China ($4.1 billion) and the UK 
($2.2 billion)

China suffered a milder correction (-9%) than the United States (-22%) and the 
UK (-21%)

The top three powers on the Art Market accounted for 82% of global fine art 
auction turnover

France was the only major power to post positive growth: +18%

Auction houses

Christie's and Sotheby's together hammered 54% of the global art auction 
market: $3.65 billion and $3.59 billion respectively

Five Chinese auction houses ranked in the Top 10 worldwide

Phillips confirmed its excellent 2018 results with its second best-ever annual 
total, despite an -11% contraction

Artcurial ranked 11th in the world becoming the leading European auction house

Artists and record results

In 2019 there was only one auction result above $100 million (compared with two 
in 2018).

Claude Monet's Haystacks (Meules) (1890) peaked the market at $110.7 million.

Its value was multiplied by 44 since its previous auction in 1986.

Claude Monet arrived second in the general classification by annual auction 
turnover, below Pablo Picasso and above Zao Wou-Ki.

Jeff Koons recovered the title of "most valued living artist in the world" when 
his Rabbit (1986) fetched $91.1 million 

Gerhard Richter and David Hockney were the world's best-selling living artists, 
each with annual totals of $130 million in 2019.

Three main trends

1. Street Art is increasingly present on auction podiums, with its own stars: 
Kaws and Banksy. Lots of other street artists are moving up the sales rankings 
including Invader, Stik, Shepard Fairey and Vhils.

2. African-American and African-origin artists are recovering their rightful 
places in art history and in the market. Kerry James Marshall climbed to 55th 
place in Artprice's general ranking.

3. Christie's HI-LITE sale in Hong Kong put a name on the first major art 
movement of the 21st century.

The Museum Industry(R) is a global economic reality in the 21st century that 
represents the driving force behind the Art Market.

The growth of the museum industry is also playing a crucial role. With more 
than 700 new museums opening every year, the museum industry has become a 
global economic reality in the 21st century. More museums opened between 2000 
and 2014 than in the previous two centuries.

Demand for museum-quality works is one of the key factors in the spectacular 
growth of the Art Market. The Art Market is now both mature and liquid. 

Copyright 1987-2020 thierry Ehrmann www.artprice.com - www.artmarket.com

About Artmarket:

Artmarket.com is listed on Eurolist by Euronext Paris, SRD long only and 
Euroclear: 7478 - Bloomberg: PRC - Reuters: ARTF.

Discover Artmarket and its Artprice department on video: 
https://artprice.com/video

Artmarket and its Artprice department was founded in 1997 by its CEO, thierry 
Ehrmann. Artmarket and its Artprice department is controlled by Groupe Serveur, 
created in 1987. 

See certified biography in Who's who (C):
https://imgpublic.artprice.com/img/wp/sites/11/2019/10/biographie_oct2019_WhosWho_thierryEhrmann.pdf


Artmarket is a global player in the Art Market with, among other structures, 
its Artprice department, world leader in the accumulation, management and 
exploitation of historical and current art market information in databanks 
containing over 30 million indices and auction results, covering more than 
700,000 artists.

Artprice Images(R) allows unlimited access to the largest Art Market image bank 
in the world: no less than 180 million digital images of photographs or 
engraved reproductions of artworks from 1700 to the present day, commented by 
our art historians.

Artmarket with its Artprice department accumulates data on a permanent basis 
from 6300 Auction Houses and produces key Art Market information for the main 
press and media agencies (7,200 publications). Its 4.5 million 'members log in' 
users have access to ads posted by other members, a network that today 
represents the leading Global Standardized Marketplace(R) to buy and sell 
artworks at a fixed or bid price (auctions regulated by paragraphs 2 and 3 of 
Article L 321.3 of France's Commercial Code).

Artmarket with its Artprice department, has been awarded the State label 
"Innovative Company" by the Public Investment Bank (BPI) (for the second time 
in November 2018 for a new period of 3 years) which is supporting the company 
in its project to consolidate its position as a global player in the market art.

Artprice by Artmarket's 2019 Global Art Market Report published in February 
2020: 
https://www.artprice.com/artprice-reports/the-art-market-in-2019

Index of press releases posted by Artmarket with its Artprice department:
http://serveur.serveur.com/press_release/pressreleaseen.htm

Follow all the Art Market news in real time with Artmarket and its Artprice 
department on Facebook and Twitter:

https://www.facebook.com/artpricedotcom/ (4.7 million followers)
https://twitter.com/artmarketdotcom
https://twitter.com/artpricedotcom

Discover the alchemy and universe of Artmarket and its artprice department 
http://web.artprice.com/video headquartered at the famous Organe Contemporary 
Art Museum "The Abode of Chaos" (dixit The New York Times): 
https://issuu.com/demeureduchaos/docs/demeureduchaos-abodeofchaos-opus-ix-1999-2013


L'Obs - The Museum of the Future: https://youtu.be/29LXBPJrs-o
https://www.facebook.com/la.demeure.du.chaos.theabodeofchaos999
(4 million followers)

https://vimeo.com/124643720


Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1093617/Claude_Monet_Haystacks.jpg  
 
Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1009603/Art_Market_logo.jpg 

Contact Artmarket.com and its Artprice department

Contact: Thierry Ehrmann, ir@artmarket.com

SOURCE:  Artprice.com
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