Global Art Auction Sales Hit a Record $6.5 Billion in 2021 – Barron's

The fastest-growing category was what ArtTactic called Young Contemporary art, which includes works by artists under 45 such as
Adrian Ghenie,

Matthew Wong,
and Nicolas Party, as well as digital artists such as
Mike Winkelmann,
professionally known as Beeple, whose Everydays: The First 5000 Days NFT sold for over US$69 million in March at Christie’s.

Auction sales of this category soared to a record high US$395 million, up 201% from 2020. Hong Kong accounted for US$142 million, further establishing itself as the auction hub for a generation of younger artists, according to the report.

The art market “is experiencing a generational shift towards younger collectors, many emerging from Asia, and who are increasingly backed by wealth derived from the booming tech and crypto markets,”
Anders Petterson,
founder of ArtTactic, said in the report. “Their motivations, tastes and behaviors are now driving the market for young artists.”

However, Post-War and Contemporary art remained the predominant collecting categories in 2021, accounting for a combined 53.8% of market share with a record US$3.53 billion in sales, the report said.

Auction sales of Old Masters realized U$279 million in 2021, up 32.1% from 2020 and up 16.4% from 2019. Impressionist art auction sales amounted to US$963 million, up from US$278 million last year. 

After a three-year decline, Modern art rebounded with a total of US$1.28 billion in auction sales.Two single-owner collections, The Macklowe Collection and the MGM Collection, accounted for 17.4% of total auction sales of Modern art this year. Both collections were auctioned through Sotheby’s during the second half of 2021. 

Sotheby’s Consolidated Sales Amounted to US$7.3 Billion Year to Date

Boosted by these two collections, as well as strong performance across other categories, Sotheby’s auction sales, including fine art and luxury collectibles, reached US$6 billion, the auction house said Wednesday.

The auction sales were up 26% from the comparable 2019 and up 71% from 2020.

“Our unparalleled expertise and innovation mindset led to extraordinary results across categories and regions and set new benchmarks for selling art and luxury,”
Charles F. Stewart,
Sotheby’s CEO, said in a news release.

Including private sales channels, Sotheby’s consolidated sales totaled US$7.3 billion year to date, the highest in its 277-year history. The company still has 20 auctions scheduled before the end of the year.