ArtPrice’s 2024 Contemporary Art Market Report: Key Insights Summary

ArtPrice’s recently released 2024 Contemporary Art Market Report gives an inside look into the latest and greatest in the contemporary art market. In this article, we will highlight the key insights from the report to give you a clear perspective on trends dominating the contemporary art market.

Before we jump into it, here’s a quick look at the global auction figures for the 2023/2024 period.

• $1.888B – Worldwide earnings from contemporary art auctions
• 17% – Contemporary art market share
• 132k – # of transactions (a new peak compared to previous years)
• 65% – auction sales success rate

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s get into the nitty-gritty!

Key Trends

• The Contemporary Art Market has contracted and returned to its pre-pandemic levels under the $2B mark. However, this contraction does not take away from the significant growth in the market which surpasses the average of the five years before the health crisis.

• Auction transaction records have reached a new peak thanks to the digitalization of art auction sales, with many Gen X and Y individuals bidding online. The globalization of demand and democratization of art have also played a role in achieving higher transaction volumes.

• Affordable artworks, i.e. works under $5000 have seen an explosion in supply and demand. 108,000+ contemporary lots priced at under $5000 were sold in the last 12 months. This reflects an increased interest in art collecting by individuals in the middle-class who care about affordability.

• Affordable multiples of works by leading contemporary artists such as Damien Hurst, KAWS, Banksy, Jeff Koons, etc., have largely contributed to sales in the under $5000 art segment.

• The $5000 – $10000 contemporary artwork price segment is the most stable

• The high-end segment of the contemporary art market, i.e. works above $50000, experienced a marked contraction with a 21% drop in transactions compared to the previous year

2023/24 Contemporary Art Auction Results by Price Range

Artworks in the $1 – $1000 range account for most of the contemporary art sales at auction, with over 75,000 works sold.

This is closely followed by works in the $1000 – $5000 range, with over 33,000 sales. The sales numbers get smaller as the price range increases.

There was no recorded sale for works equal to over $100 million.

Dominating Markets for Contemporary Art

The contemporary art market is dominated by five major markets worldwide  – United States, China, United Kingdom, France, and Germany. The other countries hold very small shares of the market. The visual breakdown is below.

The Top-Selling Contemporary Artists at Auction

While the Contemporary art market includes works by over 33,000 artists, just 10 artists generated almost one-third of the segment’s global auction turnover. The top three artists are the usual popular names in the contemporary art market — Jean-Michel Basquiat, Yoshitomo Nara and George Condo. The three artists together recorded an insane sum of $358 million at auction. Below is a visual representation of the movements in the positions of the top 10 artists compared to the 2022/23 period.

An Overview of the Ultra-Contemporary Art Market

The Ultra-Contemporary art market, a segment focused on artists under 40, is rapidly evolving with a keen focus on work by female artists. Today, over 3000 artists under the age of 40 have recorded at least one sale at auction, compared to just 500 in the early 2000s.

To spice things up further, prices for Ultra-Contemporary artworks have reached ranges once reserved for only established artists, with pieces being sold for over $1 million at auction. Ultra-Contemporary art generated nearly $150 million this year, representing 8% of the Contemporary art market, which is 100 times higher than twenty years ago.

Dominating Markets for Ultra-Contemporary Art

Like the Contemporary art market, the Ultra-Contemporary art market is dominated by the United States, China, and the United Kingdom. These markets are closely followed by Japan and Poland while the other countries take 1% or less of the market share. The visual breakdown is shown below.

Top 10 Ultra-Contemporary Women Artists By Auction Turnover

The Ultra-Contemporary art market is positioned to favor women artists, with the top seven of the top-selling Ultra-Contemporary artists being women. Here’s a breakdown of the auction turnover of the top 10 women artists in the segment in 2023/24.

Top Ultra-Contemporary Artists of African Descent (With Their Ranking on the Global Top 100 Ultra-Contemporary Artists by Auction Turnover List)

You can get the full Artprice 2024 Contemporary Art Market Report here.

If you’re a collector interested in collecting artwork by emerging Ultra-Contemporary African artists, our marketplace has options for you!