New world record for art: in 2021, auction sales reached $17 billion. According to Artprice’s annual report published on Monday March 14, this increase is notably boosted by contemporary art and accompanied by the dematerialization of works, such as NFTs.
In 2021, trade increased by 60% compared to 2020, boosted by NFTs, digital works. crypto art is not newbut the pandemic has shaken up practices and accelerated the dematerialization of the art market.
During two years, ” the health crisis has dramatically accelerated the dematerialization of the art market. 87 % of 6 300 auction houses monitored by Artprice now have all the back office to conduct online auctions “, told AFP Thierry Ehrmann, head of this company, world leader in information on the art market.
Sales of digital works exploded in 2021. The first SMS in history, transmitted by the operator Vodafone on December 3, 1992, was sold at auction last December, for 107,000 euros.
With 111,240 lots sold worldwide (artists born after 1945, paintings, sculptures, installations, drawings, photographs, prints, videos, NFT…), contemporary art now weighs 20 % of the market against 3 % in 2000 “, he specifies.
With 40% of total world sales, China has become the world leader, ahead of the United States and the United Kingdom. This while London is recording a drop in sales, the first effects of Brexit being reflected in the postponement of sales from London to Paris.
With 91,699 works sold, France places itself in second place after the United States, but it remains in fourth place in terms of total cumulative sales, exceeding for the first time the billion dollars.
Another striking phenomenon is the massive arrival of artists from the African continent on the contemporary art market. Ghanaian painter Amoako Boafo has become the second most popular African artist in the world.
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