Global art market slumps as Chinese auction sales plummet: data

The value of art sold at auctions globally fell by a third last year compared to 2023, with the Chinese market crashing by 63 percent, auction data published on Monday showed.

Artprice, a France-based consultancy which aggregates auction data from around the world, said the value of art sold in 2024 slumped to $9.9 billion (9.1 billion euros), the lowest level since 2009.

All the major art hubs recorded steep falls, with New York down 29 percent, London down 28 percent and Paris down 21 percent as collectors turned cautious given global economic uncertainty.

The Chinese market shrank to just $1.8 billion from $4.9 billion in 2023, underlining the weakness of the world’s second-biggest economy.

“Major collectors have grown hesitant including for major artists such as Mark Rothko, Jasper Johns, Ellsworth Kelly or Jean-Michel Basquiat,” Thierry Ehrmann, founder of Artprice, told AFP.

The value of Pablo Picasso sales — a leading indicator for the rest of the market — totaled $223 million in 2024, around a third of the $597 million spent on the Spanish master the previous year, the data showed.

Gone are the days of endless record-breaking bids at art auctions, with the once-booming market spurred by speculator cash in decline since 2021.

That has meant some high-end sellers have postponed or cancelled planned sales, making fewer works available.

In a sign of the changed climate, leading auction house Sotheby’s laid off 100 staff members — six percent of its global workforce — in December.

– Cutbacks –

Experts say the steep fall last year was linked to wars in Ukraine and Gaza, major elections across the globe, and higher interest rates, which raised the cost of borrowing.

The Chinese economy has slowed dramatically since the Covid-19 pandemic, facing headwinds caused by a debt crisis in its real estate industry and tariffs from its trading partners.

For high-net-worth buyers, “art is the first luxury that you stop buying when you need to consolidate, which is why positive economic news feeds back into the art market quite quickly”, said Lindsay Dewar from the London-based ArtTactic art market consultancy.

Industry insiders are now wondering how the global market will react to Donald Trump’s presidency. Initial optimism about a “Trump bump” on stock markets has faded fast as he introduces tariffs and rows with allies.

Weakening demand at the global art collector level also feeds through to primary sales — sales of work through galleries — which affect artists’ prices and income.