CONTEMPORARY ART MARKET REPORT 2022

The contemporary art market boomed during 2021 and the first half of 2022. Market reports have been released predicting the latter half of the year as well as the beginning of 2023.

Following a major recession due to COVID-19 in 2020, the art market has saw an unprecedented rise in value during 2021, reaching a higher level than even before the pandemic. Dr. Clare McAndrew, a cultural economist, and the originator of Arts Economics wrote the 2022 Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report. It found that total sales by dealers and auctioneers increased by 29% from 2020 to $65.1 billion.

The fact that the art industry has successfully recovered from the pandemic-related recession is arguably the report’s most encouraging finding.

As anticipated, when lockout limitations were lifted, more people attended in-person events, which resulted in a 5% decrease in online sales. However, global internet sales grew by 7% to reach $13.3 billion in 2021, continuing to rise. This represented about 20% of sales in the art market, which is still higher than it was in 2019.

The long-lasting effects of this shift to online are evident, and it’s clear that this will remain a major platform for the art market.

The Post-war and Contemporary sector and the Impressionist and Modern category have been closely competing. With $2.4 billion in total sales, Impressionist and Modern art were just $40 million better off, although this influx in value is largely due to newly released supply held by collectors.

In addition to the contemporary art market, the value of sales for art-related NFTs occurring on NFT platforms increased more than one hundred times in 2021 compared to the previous year, reaching US$2.6 billion, while collectibles had even greater growth, reaching US$8.6 billion.

In addition to being incredibly effective at bringing in new customers, the sales of NFTs in the traditional art market’s auction sector also revealed that 74% of HNW collectors had purchased art-based NFTs, with a median cost of US$9,000.

For more information on Post-war Modern and Contemporary art, you can get in touch with one of our Farhi Fine Art Advisors through our contact page.