GROWTH OF THE ART MARKET

The global art market is worth over $50bn and continues to excel each year. In 2017 the sale of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Salvator Mundi” sold for $450.3 million at auction, making the sale the highest ever realised hammer price in history. David Hockney became the most expensive living artist with the sale of “Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures)” at the end of 2018 for $80 million.

According to economist Clare McAndrew’s report in UBS and Art Basel’s “The Art Market | 2018”, in 2017 total global art sales rose to $63.7 billion which marked a 12% rise on the previous year. Economic crisis has had minimal impact on the art markets performance. In 2020 midst the global pandemic, Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Day auction took a total of $13.7 million in sales – the highest ever total for an online auction. The number of first-time buyers increased by 228% in 2020.

The art market has proved its resilience by bouncing back and rapidly adapting to radically changed circumstances. Sales in the second half of 2020 were 4.5% higher than the last six months of 2019 according to ArtTactic research and analysis.

The Sotheby’s Mei Moses All Art Index: 1950 - 2021

In 2017 the sale of Leonardo daVinci’s “Salvator Mundi” sold for $450.3 million at auction.