Artprice

The Art Market 2013 +15 % (Art Price Global Index) Best year ever - Art Market Report - Seite 2

In addition, eight of the fifty top bids in 2013 went to living artists and the Top 50 bids even include a 21st century work: The Last Supper (2001) by Chinese artist Zeng Fanzhi.

Key figures for 2013

China's revenues were up yet again in 2013 (+21%) despite an excellent year for the Americans (a rise of around 20%). The twin pole of China and the US controlled nearly 70% of the art market in terms of sales volumes, and the two superpowers were neck and neck. China, number 1 in the global market, posted a total of $4.1 billion; the US also achieved over $4 billion, thanks to a very wealthy globalised demand for names considered as trophies.

Given this steady rise in power, the other market places were left far behind. At $2.1 billion, the UK generated half the revenues of the leaders, but its 3rd place was challenged by no other country, as France, 4th in the ranking, made $549 million (4.5% of the market), followed by Germany ($207 million; 1.7% of the market), Switzerland ($159 million; 1.3% of the market) and Italy ($110 million; 0.9% of the market), the only ones who succeeded in passing the revenue threshold of $100 million.

With an unsold rate of 34% in an overabundant offering, the market had never been so greedy in its history, digesting twice as many works as it did ten years ago. This shows how much broader it has become over the past decade. Sales totalled $12.005 billion, an absolute record in auction history - up by 13% compared with the vintage year of 2012* and by 2.3% compared with the previous record year, 2011, with revenues of $11.78 billion.

*Total sales in 2012 came to $10.6 billion for Fine Art as defined by Artprice.com, i.e. sales of paintings, drawings, sculpture, photography, prints and multimedia for the works of clearly identified artists, the figures of AMMA Artron in the 2012 report being based on a broader spectrum.

Artprice publishes this exclusive report on the art market in six languages. It is quoted by 6,300 international institutions and media each year. Produced using the bidding results from 4,500 auction houses, the 2013 Annual Report consists of macro-economic and micro-economic analyses updated according to new sales and variations in the price of art works. The report, published by Artprice press agency ArtMarketInsight with the econometrics department of Artprice, also contains original rankings such as the Top 500 of artists by turnover, and the list of the 100 highest bids of the year.