The global art market still managed to hit an estimated $65 billion in sales in 2023, despite global high borrowing rates, geopolitical instability and volatile economic conditions.
This is according to a joint report from Art Basel and UBS Group.
On the contrary is the fact that the global art sales, inclusive of those via auctions and art galleries dipped 4% in value from 2022.
Inflation was not factored, which could imply that the real value of the market’s shrinkage was more severe.
The report’s author, Clare McAndrew, while speaking in reference to the nominal 4% decline said he was pleasantly surprised that the decline did not exceed that.
She added that talking to people in the last quarter of last year was pretty tough.
McAndrew, the founder of the research and consulting firm Arts Economics, says the 2023 art market was in many respects the opposite of the year prior.
“In 2022, it was definitely the high end doing much better and everything else kind of slowing,” she says, in reference to works priced in the millions of dollars.”
“And then we saw that kind of turn on its head a little bit last year, with the high end really kind of thinning out, but there still was activity going on at that kind of lower price level.”
Global declines
According to the report, the United States retained its dominant art world position, representing 42% of sales by value (which includes both primary and secondary markets).
China managed to surpass the UK as the second-biggest market, with its share rising to 19%; while the UK sank to third place, with 17%.
This is Despite a series of high-profile auction flops – including the Long Museum’s disappointing sale at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong.
France came in a distant fourth, with 7% of sales by value, totaling $4.6 billion in sales.
Sales in the UK fell nearly as much by share of value, some 8%.
Only China, which McAndrew says benefited from a backlog of sales due to Covid-related lockdowns, saw a 9% growth in value in 2023 to $12.2 billion.
But once that inventory belatedly hit the market in the spring, the Chinese market began to sink quickly, too.
Beleaguered trophy market
The 1,600 dealers surveyed who self-reported results told the researchers that their aggregate sales fell by about 3% year-over-year, to $36.1 billion.
The pain was particularly pointed for dealers who had more than $10 million in turnover; they reported a 7% decline in average sales.
Meanwhile, smaller operations, that is, dealers with a turnover of less than $500 000, saw sales rise by 12% on average.
Global auction figures also suffered a pullback at the highest end.
Total public auction sales fell by 7%, to $25.1 billion, according to the report, and sales over $10 million were a major factor in that decline.
The number of lots sold in that tier fell by 25% from the previous year, while total values decreased by a staggering 40%.
Looking ahead
And yet transactions did occur, and the art market is still chugging along – the volume of sales actually increased by 4% year-over-year, according to the report.
She cites the thrill of bidding at auction or the fun of travelling to an art fair in a warmer climate.
She said that not every dealer is so optimistic.
Only about a third of the report’s respondents expected an improvement in sales in 2024, and they have an even grimmer view of their peers: Just 23% predicted that their competitors would see a rise in sales.
