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Agence France-Presse

The value of art sold at auctions globally fell by a third last year compared to 2023, with the Chinese market crashing by 63 per cent, newly figures show.
Artprice, a France-based consultancy which aggregates auction data from around the world, said the value of art sold in 2024 slumped to US$9.9 billion, the lowest level since 2009.
All the major art hubs recorded steep falls, with New York down 29 per cent, London down 28 per cent and Paris down 21 per cent as collectors turned cautious given global economic uncertainty.
The Chinese market shrank to just US$1.8 billion, from US$4.9 billion in 2023, underlining the weakness of the world’s second-biggest economy.

“Major collectors have grown hesitant including for major artists such as Mark Rothko, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly or Jean-Michel Basquiat,” Thierry Ehrmann, founder of Artprice, said.
The value of Pablo Picasso sales – a leading indicator for the rest of the market – totalled US$223 million in 2024, around a third of the US$597 million spent on the Spanish master the previous year, the data showed.

Gone are the days of endless record-breaking bids at art auctions, with the once-booming market spurred by speculator cash in decline since 2021.
That has meant some high-end sellers have postponed or cancelled planned sales, making fewer works available.
In a sign of the changed climate, leading auction house Sotheby’s laid off 100 staff – 6 per cent of its global workforce – in December.
Art is the first luxury that you stop buying when you need to consolidate
Lindsay Dewar of the London-based ArtTactic art market consultancy
Experts say the steep fall last year was linked to wars in Ukraine and Gaza, major elections across the globe, and higher interest rates, which raised the cost of borrowing.
The Chinese economy has slowed dramatically since the Covid-19 pandemic, facing headwinds caused by a debt crisis in its property sector and tariffs from its trading partners.
For high-net-worth buyers, “art is the first luxury that you stop buying when you need to consolidate, which is why positive economic news feeds back into the art market quite quickly”, said Lindsay Dewar of the London-based ArtTactic art market consultancy.
Industry insiders are now wondering how the global market will react to Donald Trump’s presidency. Initial optimism about a “Trump bump” on stock markets has faded fast as he introduces tariffs and rows with allies.
Weakening demand at the global art collector level also feeds through to primary sales – sales of work through galleries – which affect artists’ prices and income.

Dewar said that her conversations with gallery owners indicated they had a “tough year” in 2024.
Nevertheless, she sees reasons for optimism.
The overall number of auction sales increased last year – up 5 per cent to 800,000, according to Artprice figures – with activity at the lower end of the market for works at US$50,000 or under showing robust health.
And some sales are still outperforming, including a Magritte which fetched a record US$121 million for the surrealist artist in November, far above the guide price of US$95 million.
“People do still want to trade, to buy and sell artwork. The desire is still there,” Dewar said.

A portrait by an AI-powered robot of the English mathematician Alan Turing, considered one of the fathers of modern computing, also raised US$1 million at Sotheby’s in November, 10 times more than expected.
Two major upcoming auctions will give a sense of conditions at the top end of the market.
Sotheby’s is set to sell works belonging to late New York banker Thomas Saunders and his wife in May, while Christie’s will put part of book mogul Leonard Riggio’s modern-art collection under the hammer in the next few months.


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Auction sales of art plunge as Chinese market crashes, new data for 2024 shows

The value of Picassos auctioned in 2024, a bellwether of the art market, was US$223 million compared to US$597 million a year earlier, when one of the big-ticket sales was of the Spanish artist’s Femme á la montre (above) at Sotheby’s. Photo: AFP

Visitors view the Water Lilies painting by Claude Monet displayed at Christie’s new Asia-Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong ahead of its sale in September 2024. Photo: Getty Images

Bids are taken on Claude Monet’s Water Lilies painting at Christie’s in Hong Kong, which sold for HK$200 million (US$28.8million). Photo: AFP

The Ai-Da Robot in front of a portrait of mathematician Alan Turing it created, which sold for US$1 million at Sotheby’s, 10 times the presale estimate and a rare bright spot in the art market in 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE/Sotheby’s

Sotheby’s employees take phone bids during an auction in New York. “People do still want to buy and sell artwork,” says Lindsay Dewar of the London-based ArtTactic art market consultancy. Photo: AFP

Contemporary Chinese ink artist tips hat to Anita Mui, Cantopop diva, in Hong Kong show

Artist Hong Wai at her show “No Way To Be Good”. Photo: Elson Li

Artist Hong Wai poses with paintings inspired by late Hong Kong singer Anita Mui’s heavily made up eyes, part of her exhibition at Soho House in the city’s Sheung Wan neighbourhood. Photo: Elson Li

A work titled Alternative Landscape Fragrant mountain II by Artist Hong Wai in her exhibition “No Way To Be Good”. Photo: Elson Li

Sunset by Artist Hong Wai in her exhibition “No Way To Be Good”. Photo: Elson Li

Hong Wai at the Soho House exhibition, which runs until March 21, 2025. Photo: Elson Li

This sculpture was lost for a century – then auctioned for millions

A bronze sculpture by French artist Camille Claudel sold at auction for over US$3.2 million in mid-February. Photo: AFP

Auctioneer Matthieu Semont proceeds to the auction of a bronze sculpture L’Age mur (The Mature Age) by French sculptor Camille Claudel in Orleans on February 16. Photo: AFP

Hong Kong art photography fair cancelled months ahead of its 2025 debut

Visitors attend the 2018 edition of Photofairs Shanghai, the city where the photographic art fair began in 2014 and where it will again be held in 2025. Plans for a Hong Kong edition of the fair in 2025 have been scrapped. Photo: Handout

Visitors view works on show at Art021, an art fair held in Hong Kong for the first time in 2024 and which received a subsidy of HK$15 million (US$1.9 million) from the government’s Mega Arts and Cultural Events Fund. Photo: Elson Li

Visitors throng the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre on the first day of Art Basel Hong Kong 2024. Photo: Eugene Lee

Young naked women are their canvas – nude art of 2 anonymous Hong Kong artists challenges city’s conservative attitudes towards sex

Lousy’s body paint on a nude woman. The anonymous Hong Kong graffiti artist paints bold designs on young, naked women then photographs them in erotic poses. Photo: Lousy                                                         

Another of Lousy’s “kissfaces”, on Queen’s Road West in Hong Kong. Photo: Lousy

Lousy’s photobook “Yook”, published in 2020. Photo: Lousy

Matsushimaon’s body art on a nude woman. Photo: Matsushimaon

Professor Sonia Wong says there is not a lot of space in erotic or explicit artistic disciplines for women to express their sexuality, especially in Hong Kong. Photo: Professor Sonia Wong

Artist Lousy’s portrait. Photo: Lousy

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A 63 per cent drop in art auction proceeds in China contributed to a one-third fall in global sales in 2024, to the lowest total since 2009


A 63 per cent drop in art auction proceeds in China contributed to a one-third fall in global sales in 2024, to the lowest total since 2009.


Auctions

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