“Art is something of a hobby of the 1 %”
The art market is currently hinged on two factors: a growing number of collectors with financial strength and the development of online sales, opening the market to a new sector.
The Art Market in 2014 in figures:
- The global art market reached a record total of over €51 billion in 2014, higher than the record figure before the recession of 2007, which was €48 billion.
- 2.8 million people work in the art industry across 300,000 companies.
- There are three dominant markets: US: 39%; China: 22% and UK: 22% (the UK had an increase of 17% over one year).
- Postwar and contemporary art represented 48% (€5.9 billion) of the fine art sales by value (the largest sector, up 19% on last year), which was dominated by the US.
- Modern art sales represented the second largest sector at 28% by value.
- Sales over €1 million (1,530 lots, an increase of 17%), represents 48% of the market value. These transactions only account for 0.5% of total sales.
- 96 lots were sold for more than €10 million.
Art Fairs: Still powerful, still expensive
- The report identified 180 art fairs across the globe in 2014; amongst those 39% take place in the US, 38% in Europe and 12% in Asia.
- The top 22 fairs garnered over 1 million visitors over the year
- An interesting number highlighted by Dr. McAndrew is the cost of the fair for the exhibitor spending in total €2.3 billion.
- The investment is worthwhile however, sales made by gallerists at art fairs accounted for a reported 40% of all dealer sales, representing €9.8 billion. This figure has increased from last year when art fairs were cited as representing on average 33% of galleries’ incomes. This figure is much higher for galleries in cities with small domestic markets such as Cardi gallery Milan who told us “I would say it is the majority of our income, they count for around 60%”.
Online Sales are making an impact
- This segment represented 6% of the global market, representing €3.3 billion (€2.5 billion in 2013)
- Works offered between €1,000 and €50,000 are the most attractive to buyers (most sold).
- Amongst the leaders in the market include Art.com, Artspace.com and Gagosian.com.
